Napier City Rovers will drive the equivalent of almost three lengths of New Zealand for away trips to Wellington in football’s 2024 Central League. Neil Reid reports
Napier City Rovers’ new signings will get their first taste of Central League road-tripping down SH2 this weekend – the first of 5634km worth of trips along the state highway as they chase National League qualification.
The Bill Robertson-coached team kicked off their 2024 season with an opening round 3-0 loss to Wellington Olympic at Bluewater Stadium last Sunday.
Despite the scoreline, there was much to like about Napier City Rovers’ play; including prolonged passages in both halves where they exerted dominance on New Zealand’s top-ranked football club.
Saturday sees them play their first game on the road for the season against Waterside Karori; the first of nine round-robin matches Robertson’s team will play in Wellington in the Central League.
Missing will be brothers Kieran and Ethan Richards who were red-carded late in the match; the former for verbals directed at referee Mark Rule.
Napier City Rovers’ form on the road was strong in last year’s Central League, with midfielder Liam Schofield saying the team wanted a repeat of those winning ways away from home first-up.
“It’s our first trip down to Wellington for the year, and we’ve just got to stick together now and work hard at training,” he said.
“We can’t forget about the nature of the loss to Wellington Olympic, but we’ve got to move on from it, take all the positives and then just bounce back.
“We need to stick together, bounce back and get a result.”
Waterside Karori are in fourth spot in the Central League table after their 2-0 win over North Wellington last Saturday.
No other team in New Zealand Football’s Central, Northern or Southern leagues face the amount of travel on the road as Napier City Rovers does as they hunt qualification for the 2024 National League.
Between now and the final match of their 2024 Central League campaign, they will have clocked up more than 5500km of min-van travel on return trips from Napier to Wellington.
This season the side will be replicating their 2023 travel schedule, travelling to Wellington on the eve of matches instead of the previous tactic of travelling there and back on game day.
It was a tactic that worked well last year, especially in the second half of the Central League where a freshened playing squad recorded numerous key wins to secure National League qualification.
“We’re used to this and we know what it’s all about,” Schofield said of the travel.
“There’s no excuses.”
The Barnsley-born 30-year-old is no stranger to the road trips down SH2, having been at Napier City Rovers since 1998.
But for the likes of William Tonning, Oscar Faulds, Benjamin Stanley, Matt Jones and Adam Hewson, Friday night’s departure for Wellington will be a taste of what is to come over the next five months.
The group all made their first-team debuts in last weekend’s 3-0 loss to Wellington Olympic; all of them showed some promising touches.
In Tonning’s case, he was deservedly voted his team’s player of the match by his teammates and supporters at Bluewater Stadium after his performance
included a brilliant second-half penalty save.
Until Wellington Olympic scored twice in the final 10 minutes, Tonning’s save lifted his side and saw the momentum of the match swing Napier City Rovers’ way. But they were unable to finish off several promising attacks.
The shot-stopping of Wellington Olympic goalkeeper Scott Basalaj also kept his side in the match.
“We’ve had chances to get back in the game,” Schofield said.
“We just need to be more clinical and [would] probably take those chances on another day. Their keeper’s probably the best in the league. and he’s kept them in it as well. That was the difference.
“The second goal kind of killed us.
“We kept them quiet for large parts of the game. But we’ve got to stay switched on for 90-plus minutes.”
Schofield captained his side against Wellington Olympic in the absence of regular skipper Jim Hoyle, who was serving a suspension carried over from last year.
While gutted with the result, the day will remain special for his family.
Pre-match, Schofield led the team walk-out at Bluewater Stadium proudly holding his 3-month-old son, Luca.
“It was a really proud moment,” he said.
Inside the Rovers videos:
Episode One: Back to Work
Episode Two: The Darkest Days
Episode Three: Skin Deep
Episode Four: Good as Gould
Episode Five: The Hard Yards
Episode Six: Leaving a Legacy
Episode Seven: Fun and Games
Neil Reid is a Napier-based senior reporter who covers general news, features and sport. He joined the Herald in 2014 and has 30 years of newsroom experience.