The fans expected a Trojan horse of sorts at Park Island yesterday but instead the "Greeks" came crashing down like a house of cards on a Wellington weather-like day in Napier.
The TSB Bank Napier City Rovers team had methodically dismantled Wellington Olympic, exposing their flightless soul in a 10-0 football flogging.
The Blues stalwarts, over frothy pints in the clubrooms at the Bluewater Stadium, couldn't recall the last time their flagship team had walloped anyone to that degree in a Lotto Central League affair.
True to the worst fears of coach Besim Balicevac, Olympic were still in mourning over their 4-3 Chatham Cup loss to the Rovers the previous Sunday at Wakefield Stadium.
Frankly, the Blues' fortress is fast becoming the killing fields for foes this winter. No post-match media scrums were necessary yesterday, because the body language of both teams spoke volumes.
The hosts were ruthless. The visitors aloof and every player owes Balicevac an apology.
"What did you pay the [expletive] ref?" a scowling player had hollered at Rovers fans clapping off the sides at halftime after a 7-0 deficit.
For the record, referee Antony Riley and his flag bearers were on song. If anything, Riley perhaps should have called the game off at halftime and enforced the non-existent mercy rule.
The manual scoreboard was under threat with "7" the highest number in the bank but "6" would have come to the rescue if tilted upside down to denote "9".
When the game resumed, six minutes into the second half and within a 10-minute space, it was Halpin, Halpin, Holye goals, rendering the scorekeeper redundant for the second consecutive home game - Lower Hutt City 8-0 a fortnight ago.
Yesterday the Blues faithful warmed their cockles to the tune of Glory, Glory City Rovers five minutes before the final whistle.
The Rovers club committee must be under pressure to revisit its budget to add to its scoreboard numbers, because jokers such as Angus Kilkolly, Ryan Tinsley and Saul Halpin are playing a game of their own within the league called golden boot race.
But the day belonged to striker Stephen Hoyle, who bagged five goals, although he returns home to England today to attend to family matters before returning in a fortnight.
Hoyle started the bloodbath in the 16th minute, after deftly placing the ball from inside the 18m box past goalkeeper James McPeake for a 1-0 lead.
In the 23rd minute Hoyle again exposed the Greeks' brittle defence as he walked through zombies to drive from point-blank range, 2-0.
Five minutes later, Josh Stevenson pounced on a ball inside the box to extend the lead to 3-0, after McPeake parried a Halpin drive.
In the 31st minute Tinsley nodded in a corner kick, 4-0, amid disbelief. Three minutes later, Hoyle sealed his hattrick (5-0), before making a mockery of the visitors with a solo run from 30m out in the 38th minute, to make it 6-0.
In four minutes of added time in the first spell, Kilkolly slotted a penalty kick, 7-0, after a defender fouled Stevenson in the box.
Halpin carried on to 8-0 in the 56th minute and three minutes later pushed it to 9-0, after a sliding finish from a cross 5m in front of the goalmouth.
Holye put the Greeks out of their misery in the 64th minute, after Kilkolly dummied a through ball as coach Bill Robertson rolled out substitutes.
