Football: Havelock North free youth from chains to gain promotion to elite tier of Napier tourney

Havelock North will fly the Hawke's Bay flag in the top tier of the marquee under-19 national youth football tournament in Napier next year.

The villagers earned that right after a don't-argue 5-0 victory over Papakura City (Auckland) in the satellite final this afternoon.

As unkind as it may sound, the air of expectation for a Bay return to the elite main draw of the Lotto-sponsored, Napier City Rovers-hosted annual tourney soon turned into an affair where a mercy rule should have been applied by the halftime 3-0 margin.

Enigmatically, Papakura coach Nardi Vuksanlekaj didn't make any substitutions while his Havelock North counterpart, Dion Adams, used all his five.

However, it's fair to say both parties were winners even before the kickoff as automatic qualifiers to the main draw.

The Havelock North fans cleared their lungs in the 16th minute when tournament golden boot Liam Shackleton (13 goals) broke the deadlock with a sizzling drive from about 20m at the top of the box.

It was Shackleton again in the 22nd minute when he latched on to a through ball from Guy Reeves for a 2-0 lead before raising up his arms after depositing another into the net in the 26th minute for a first-half hattrick.

In the second half, the Blue and Golds threatened to score but Adams rightly started injecting some fresh legs although the body language of Papakura wasn't too good.

Guest player from Tesco-Frederick Grunwald, of Palmerston North, Charlie Bayly and Shackleton were among those replaced.

Jack Parker made it 4-0 in the 50th minute after Josh Murphy took the ball down the right flank for a deft cross to the far past for a tap-in goal.

Three minutes later it was Kenny Willox's turn to extend the lead to 5-0.

Pulling himself away from countless wellwishers, a beaming Adams was happy for his boys, who he felt deserved to be in the elite draw next year.

Double happiness is Havelock North Under-19s winning the satellite division of the Lotto national youth tournament in Napier today after gaining promotion to the top tier. Photo/Paul Taylor

The Hastings club will only lose two players, Murphy and Grunwald, for the next tourney.

"We have a bunch of 13 and 14-year-olds coming through."

While Shackleton's shooting prowess was undisputed, Adams said a team couldn't win tourneys with 11 or 12 players.

"You've got to have 17 to 18 and we had that."

He agreed the exposure to the Ultra Football Central League over winter had made a difference to their composure with the presence of four starters and just as many in the training roster.

"To be honest, we kind of tried to play good soccer because we want them to pass the ball around and we said that if they did the results would take care of themselves," he said of his undefeated youth side.

"We almost had a bunch of boys who had chains on them so we just let them go to enjoy themselves and they loved that self-expression."

Adams said today's ascendancy made it a little easier for Havelock North to swallow the disappointment of the Wanderers' relegation from the Central League this year.

The Wanderers would add three to four mature heads to the youth side to begin their Lotto Federation League campaign next winter.

Adams thanked the army of fans who had supported the villagers throughout the three-day tourney.

It was a humdinger Hawke's Bay derby semifinal between Havelock North and Napier City Rovers with the former prevailing 3-2.

The villagers went up 1-0 in the first half through Grunwald before Shackleton made it 2-0.

However, the Stu Wilson and Chris McIvor co-coached Blues clawed their way back to equalise 2-2 with goals to Sam Wall and Ethan Ladd.

James Barclay struck the winner with about five minutes to go to break the hosts' hearts.

It's hat trick time for Havelock North forager Liam Shackleton (No 17) after he found the net three times in the satellite final of the Lotto U19 National Youth Tournament. Photo/Paul Taylor

Disappointed it wasn't the Rovers, Wilson said that was football and someone had to lose.

"As a semifinal it was good to have two local teams knowing that one of us was going to be in the main draw next year and it was the two teams who represented the region in Central League this year as well," he said.

Wilson, a former Central League golden boot, said the teams were showing the benefits of exposure to the higher echelons in winter.

"Havelock North are a solid team and have shown that all tournament," he said, revealing the Rovers are a relatively younger side who will come of age with a few 15-year-olds.

The plan was to expose the youngsters to more Central League time next winter.

Hamilton Wanderers won the inaugural girls' five-team section after edging out Hibiscus Coast 1-0 in the final.

Anina Peresson scored the winner in the first half before the Jeff Sole-coached side kept the Lisa Kemp-mentored Hibiscus Coast at Bay for a photograph at the Bluewater Stadium goalmouth.