Football: Morose Blues remain upbeat

Ryan Tinsley and Michael Bryant tangle.

Eastern Suburbs 2 Rovers 1 Chatham Cup final

The edict was loud and clear - "anything short of claiming the double will be seen as underachieving" - before the winter football season kicked off in April this year.

Agonisingly there was no fairy-tale ending for the TSB Bank Napier City Rovers in Auckland yesterday.

The Danny Wilson-captained team, boasting shadow ASB Premiership-calibre personnel from last summer, stumbled on the last hurdle at the Trusts Arena in Henderson, losing 2-1 in extra time to Eastern Suburbs AFC in the the ASB Chatham Cup final.

But player/coach Bill Robertson said: "I won't say underachieved but that we're massively disappointed."

While the troops were morose in the changing rooms before catching their flight about 7pm last night, Robertson said it was tough to lose but on reflection the Blues were passing it off as a "very, very successful season" because they had won the Lotto Central League crown and made it to the final of the national knockout cup competition.

Eastern Suburbs claimed their sixth cup bragging rights when Damien Mosquera broke a 1-1 deadlock in the 105th minute to break a 1969 hoodoo for the Kohimarama-based club to end this season with a Northern League and cup double.

The "hosts" drew first blood after an uneventful first half through Brandon Barnes with a spectacular 55th-minute goal. The former Bristol City/Southampton player curled a free kick over a wall from the edge of the 18m box past Blues goalkeeper Ruben Parker Hanks.

Rovers, who had survived a goal four minutes earlier when defender Fergus Neil cleared a shot from his goal line to receive a hug from Hanks, equalised 1-1 through a spectacular Wilson goal in the 68th minute.

The striker-cum-defender was the recipient of a deft header from Ryan Tinsley at the far post following a free kick. Wilson chested the cross down inside the box and volleyed a left-footer into the right-hand corner past a motionless Suburbs goalkeeper Simon Williams.

The live streaming on the NZ Football website revealed the Rovers had enough possession and dominance to put the game away in regulation time but shoddy finishing and poor luck proved costly although Suburbs also blew chances.

Tom Biss (67th) Saul Halpin (82nd, 93rd) and Angus Kilkolly (87th) had sitters but they went begging. Miles John (85th) clipped the crossbar and Biss found the net in the last minute of extra time but the ref's assistant had his flag up for an offside.

Referee Matt Conger enigmatically didn't pull out a red card on keeper Williams in the first half of extra time for taking out Stephen Hoyle but the ensuing free kick at the edge of the box was a shambles as Biss, Tinsley and Kilkolly seemed to be at odds over what should transpire.

Robertson was loath to cast a critical eye on the controversial aspects, including another appeal for penalty in regulation time, until he reviewed the livestreaming footage this week.