Football: Suburbs cut short Rovers' route

Wairarapa striker Seule Soromon (left) and Rovers defender James Hoyle in an aerial tussle at Masterton.

Wairarapa 1 Rovers 4 Masterton

One hand on the silverware, the Napier City Rovers are only one game away from claiming the football league bragging rights this Sunday.

The TSB Bank-sponsored Blues juggernaut again steamrolled Wairarapa United on Saturday in Masterton with a 4-1 result to maintain their healthy lead on the Lotto Central League table.

"We will win the league if we beat Palmy at home," Rovers player/coach Bill Robertson said before they host Palmerston North Marist at Park Island from 2pm.

The passage to ascendancy became easier after Petone FC held second-placed Western Suburbs to a 2-2 draw on Saturday in the Wellington derby, gifting the Blues a 10-point margin on the table (39 to 29).

The Danny Wilson-captained Rovers play the Declan Edge-coached Suburbs away in a Chatham Cup quarterfinal the following weekend.

The Napier club will try to emulate the feat of their 2000 flagship team campaigners who claimed the league/cup double.

Playing for the first time on the Masterton Memorial Park turf, the visitors went into halftime only 2-1 above the Paul Ifill-coached hosts.

"It's a good facility. I'm not a big fan of Astroturf but it's one of the better ones so we have no complaints there," Robertson said.

Golden boot front runners Angus Kilkolly and Saul Halpin found the net before Magno Viera pulled one back for Wairarapa after some deft work from Sam Mason-Smith.

"We hit the crossbar at 2-nil, which would have made it 3-nil, but then they pretty much went straight down the other end to make it 2-1," Robertson said.

A penalty kick in the second half and another Halpin goal secured the game in which defender Finlay Milne picked up a yellow card.

"Fin picked it up in his first touch of the game and I don't know if it was one so he was unlucky," Robertson said.

He said the previous round's 10-0 drubbing of Wellington Olympic at Bluewater Stadium was a work of continuity and the result reflected that.

"Today we dropped off a bit so going for 90 minutes towards Chatham Cup is important."

But Robertson hastened to add his troops thoroughly deserved to win against Wairarapa on Saturday despite a modicum of sloppiness.

"They [Wairarapa] have got decent players who can cause some problems but one or two of them were missing."

The Rovers also have no injury issues.

In other Central League games at the weekend, Miramar Rangers beat Tawa 3-1 and Stop Out beat Palmerston North Marist 4-1.