Rovers midfielder Chris McIvor zips past Taranaki's Wade Randle to show why experience always has a place in any team at any level. Photo/Duncan Brown
Escaping from New Plymouth where only a couple of soccer games were staged, Team Taranaki coach Ian McGrath was expecting the traditional hospitality in Hawke's Bay.
The province obliged as it rained cats and dogs not long after the final whistle in their 2-2 stalemate with Conroy Removals Napier City Rovers in their final Lotto Central League game at Park Island, Napier, but extending that hospitality to gifting the visitors a victory on Saturday would have drawn the ire of many here.
McGrath's men almost rained on the Blues' parade but veteran Chris McIvor saved the blushes with an 85th-minute header from a cornerkick from skipper Joshua Stevenson to ensure the points were shared.
That the visiting coach felt they should have claimed three points and his counterpart, Bill Robertson, harboured a tinge of disappointment were endorsements on how those emotions would have been played out had the unthinkable transpired.
"We're slightly disappointed with the way we finished the season because it wasn't pretty throughout the game so it's probably a fair result although Taranaki did apply the pressure for periods there," said a circumspect Robertson. The Rovers ended the season sixth on the 10-team table on 22 points, a point above Taranaki with six wins each but having one more draw (4-3) from 18 games.
The Declan Edge-coached Western Suburbs are the undisputed champions on 44 points with 14 wins and two draws despite losing 2-1 to Stop Out on Saturday.
Wairarapa United are runners-up but 10 points adrift although they have a game in hand against relegated Palmerston North Marist but that is unlikely to be played as it won't change either side's status because third-placed Wellington United safe on 29 points.
"It would have been disappointing to finish on a loss so the boys have worked hard again and we've been lacking a bit of quality when we needed it to kill the game off but a draw's a fair result in the end," said Robertson, mindful before the kick off that a Rovers defeat would have seen them nose dive to the lower rungs, based on other outcomes.
As it turned out, Wellington Olympic (8th) and Lower Hutt City (9th) finished on 20 points so a seventh place would have been the worst-case scenario for the Blues.
"We were disappointed we didn't hold out but we deserved to win that game," said McGrath, ruing a lapse of concentration in conceding the leveller.
He felt they had "gifted" the 4-1 loss to the Rovers in New Plymouth on May 21.
Taranaki, McGrath said, had defended well in a match of "even teams" and could have been three goals up in the first half and that lapse would have been irrelevant.
"While I'm disappointed we didn't come away with three points it doesn't detract from a solid campaign in our first season back at this level," he said, proud of his players in a league where there was little separating five teams.
It took 38-year-old McIvor to score the opening goal in just the second minute to light the fuse to the game before striker Sandro Grandi made it 1-1 in the 12th minute and Taranaki captain Paul Cunningham side-footed a free kick for a 2-1 lead in the 50th minute to ask questions of the Rovers' defence.
To be fair, it looked like the season couldn't end soon enough for the hosts although protocol would have demanded they were obligated to make the last outing a memorable one for solid nice guy Stevenson on his 200th outing.
In a winter when the coach's mantra was about rebuilding and injecting youth on the park, McIvor, called in as injury cover for ill teenager Ross Willox on Good Friday, made a memorable fist of it in the midfield with seven goals, including two for the ISPS Handa Chatham Cup campaign.
"There's no substitute for experience, I guess. I think what Macca's given us this season is a bit of leadership but the main thing for me was his desire to push himself to win games through the pain barrier," said Robertson, hoping some of that from the Badminton NZ programme developer would have rubbed off on his young brigade.
Striker Angus Kilkolly, who scored 30 (including five in Chatham Cup) goals and is a golden-boot contender although he's well shy of retired club record holder Garry Parker's 37 league goals in a season, had an unusually quiet day.
However, Robertson said Stevenson's contribution to the club was "unbelievable".
"He's dedicated and committed - you know, he's a proper servant of Napier City Rovers and continues to contribute every year a good standard of football at Central League level with his goals and work rate which is second to none," he said of the policeman.
A grinning McIvor had taken the liberty to let his mind stray on the thoughts of a hattrick but it wasn't to be in a season where the young and restless couldn't wait for the season to end.
"I think once you get to that kind of stage you want the young guys to learn about trying to go to the end, particularly when they're trying to get contracts."
He didn't have the opportunity to give something back to the youth at the height of his career but "it was quite special" this season under Robertson's tutelage for the first time.
A time-poor McIvor said training hurts but revealed his wife, physiotherapist Jess, would have something to say about him returning next season.
"I did half think about turning up for the Hawke's Bay United trails but I think I'll give it a miss," he said with a laugh.