Rover's Andy Bevin (left) beats Wairarapa's Josh Margetts to the ball. Photo/Duncan Brown
When two traditional rivals lock horns and one comes away with their tails between their legs it's quite easy to rub the sheen off the victors.
Wairarapa United may well say they didn't get off their team vehicle for a good part of the first half but Bluewater Napier City Rovers have every right to argue it was they who slammed the doors shut on their visitors every time they tried to alight.
The Rovers yesterday put the lights out on Wairarapa with a 3-0 victory, with all the goals coming within the space of 18 minutes in the first half.
"Although they'll say they didn't perform well I'd like to think we stopped them playing their game," Blues player/coach Bill Robertson summed up at Park Island, Napier, following the Lotto Central League match.
"We put them under pressure so well have to take credit for that rather than them not turning up."
Robertson said it was always a case of a job well done when a team found themselves 3-0 up at halftime.
"In the second half we just tried to kill the game off so we did that quite effectively."
A dejected visiting captain, Aaron Spierling, said: "We were still in the van for the first 15 to 20 minutes, to be honest."
Spierling agreed his men worked a lot harder in the second half to keep the hosts scoreless although the Blues did their darndest to find the net.
"The boys dug deep but it was pretty embarrassing in the first 15 minutes so we had to do something and we tried our hardest."
While Wairarapas pedigree is well documented, their effort at times this season had been frustrating.
"I don't even know what it was today but we just didn't turn up."
In just the third minute, midfielder Chris Greatholder drove a ball from the left flank just outside the 18m box but miscued the shot to the far post where teenage striker Angus Kilkolly tapped it in for a 1-0 lead although the senior player may well argue the pass was intentional.
English import midfielder Ryan Tinsley deserved plaudits for a passage of play leading to him curling a pass to the right wing to turn defence into attack.
In the ninth minute, Andy Bevin got an unselfish pass from Josh Stevenson about 8m in front of the goalmouth but the former lost control. The striker recovered enough to drive but goalkeeper Matt Borrens reflexes prevailed.
Provider became goal scorer in the 15th minute when Stevenson pushed Rovers 2-0 ahead with a crisp turn to jab the ball past Borren.
Having let a header slip over his head, the policeman regathered after Wairarapa centreback Nathan Cooksley coughed up possession.
In the 21st minute, it was Greatholders turn after he latched on to a parried cornerkick to drive from about 20m out to thread the ball through busy traffic for a 3-0 lead they never surrendered.
The Kinetic Electrical Hawkes Bay United coach celebrated with three press ups inside the oppositions goalmouth, much to the amusement of the Bluewater Stadium faithful.
The visitors painted a sad picture on an ideal, breathless balmy Bay day.
Towering defensive midfielder Waisake Sabutu enigmatically had an early shower midway through the first half.
Clad in black, the ex-Fiji international spent the rest of the game reduced to a spectator, leaning against a wall in the tunnel.
It wouldn't have been an issue except Wairarapa had only two substitutes. Defenders Josh Margetts and Cooksley looked unconvincing in a backline that seldom rose to any heights.
The question for coach Phil Keinzley is: "How does a team full of big-name players, such as Bay-born Tom Biss, Seule Soromon and Hamish Watson, look like a bunch of individuals on the park?"
For the most part, Wairarapa banged long balls to a speedy Andrew Abba look-a-like, Omar Gaurdiola, to perform miracles.
The Blues travel to newcomers Palmerston North Marist this Saturday before hosting Petone FC the following Saturday and reloading for the second round of the Chatham Cup match against Wellington Olympic on Queens Birthday Monday, June 2.
Marist thumped Upper Hutt City 5-1 and are an unknown quantity for the Rovers who only played them in a cup clash once last winter in Palmy North.
In other games at the weekend, Miramar Rangers thrashed Tawa 7-0, Western Suburbs beat Petone 2-0 while the Greeks scraped home 1-0 against Tawa.