Celebrating goals has become a favourite pastime for Rovers striker Angus Kilkolly. PHOTO/Duncan Brown
Celebrating goals has become a favourite pastime for Rovers striker Angus Kilkolly. PHOTO/Duncan Brown
Mud bath averted, Napier City Rovers' collective energy will be channelled into Wellington Olympic in round two of the Chatham Cup match today in Napier.
The only uncertainty is whether Bluewater Stadium, Park Island, will be fit to play on after the Conroy Removals-sponsored Blues had to eke out a5-1 victory over Lower Hutt City in their Lotto Central League match at nearby Marewa Park on Saturday.
Expansive patches of puddles on their home turf had evaporated in yesterday's sun but Rovers player/coach Bill Robertson said the surface was still saturated.
"We will have another look at it at 11 in the morning tomorrow," he said, adding they were working with Napier City Council park staff and keeping their fingers crossed it wasn't going to rain more overnight.
Robertson urged fans to check the club website this morning to see where the cup game would be staged.
On Saturday, striker Angus Kilkolly claimed a hattrick of goals while Canadian import midfielder Jean-Michel Paulin and Chris McIvor also got on the ref's match card.
"He's working very hard and getting his goals, which is great for him, and he's also contributing to the team but there were some good contributions from other players today [Saturday] as well," he said of Kilkolly.
That hattrick put Kilkolly on 20 league goals at the halfway mark of the season.
According to Rovers club members, former Rovers striker Gary Parker, now living in Melbourne, holds the league record of 37 goals set in 1986. It didn't include Chatham Cup goals.
Canaries striker Jeremy Field pulled their only goal back a minute into ref's time before halftime.
"I think it was a good performance overall in very difficult conditions. It wasn't one of our best performances of the season but the conditions added to that," said Robertson who felt his men were quite convincing when they had possession to create chances.
"Their [Lower Hutt] going down to 10 men helped us control the game a little bit more but it's a good day for us with another three points so that's four wins in a row now so the boys are playing well and working hard so long may that continue."
He said Paulin had picked up a niggly injury but he would make that call well before kick-off today.
The Rovers had thumped Olympic 4-1 in their league encounter here two Sundays ago but a circumspect Robertson was mindful of veteran player Luis Corralles assertion that a different side who arrive today.
The defending league champions, Olympic were without several key players and also had rested mercurial Corrales who was nursing a hamstring but was on the sideline as assistant coach.
