On the flip side, that prompted the fiercely loyal Palmy clubs to "pull together".
Marist's squad this season includes four Red Sox Manawatu players, the Milne brothers, Dom and Fin (siblings of Black Cap Adam) from Palmerston North End and a defender from Palmerston North High School (PNHS), Ashish Sahayam, are bolstering their campaign.
Add to that Jeremy Wild from Miramar Rangers and Steve Tippett from Team Taranaki and Marist are not a side oppositions will necessarily put ticks on as "must-win" results.
"A lot of the boys are very good mates even when they were playing for Red Sox and North End.
"When Marist got ahead [promoted] they all came around because they all wanted the region to play at a higher level," Lees reveals.
Marist would have reciprocated if any other club had gained promotion.
The province is also out of the ASB Premiership national summer league, with Youngheart Manawatu languishing at the bottom of the ladder for the past few seasons despite boasting a proud history of making the playoffs, including a final, earlier in the competition.
Before that, Manawatu FC flew their flag at the now defunct National League level before mutating to Red Sox in 2004.
Lees says the Youngheart youth club still exists and Sahayam is a product of that and there are hopes the franchise will return to the summer premiership.
PNHS is also "a great school for footballers".
He feels both teams have done their homework for today's clash at Memorial Park where they are returning after a fortnight because council were doing work on it.
Mindful, the third-placed Bill Robertson-coached Rovers are a force, Lees says their penalty-kick 4-2 victory over the visitors is memorable but also history.
"We are both two very different teams. They have young boys from overseas," he says of Welshman Miles John and Englishman Ryan Tinsley who stoke the midfield.
Tinsley has cored four goals and teenage striker Angus Kilkolly five, according to the Capital Football website but John has been impressive with his work rate and vision.
"Bill's back from [surgery] but we'll test his defence," says Lees who employs a couple of formations.
Against Miramar they have opted for structure and compact as the defending champions "hold the ball well".
"We also have pace out wide to get behind players to burn them," he says of Marist who lost their first three opening matches.
They lost 1-0 to Wellington Olympic away, conceding a free-kick goal. A 2-1 loss to Wairarapa United followed at home after they led 1-0 before succumbing 3-1 to Rangers at home.
"We were down 2-0 at halftime but we conceded a goal just before halftime through inexperience although we pulled one back to 2-1."
Lees says Miramar are very good but Marist should have been more competitive.
Marist have beaten Petone FC 3-2 but drawn 2-2 against Western Suburbs, the latter scoring the equaliser "in the last kick of the game".
The Michael Crisford-captained hosts thrashed last-placed Upper Hutt 5-1 last weekend and have beaten Stop Out 2-1 in the Chatham Cup (national knockout match).
Rovers captain Danny Wilson and his Blues will not be letting their guards down today even though the hosts have several players missing through injury or unavailabilities.
Kinetic Electrical Hawke's Bay United striker Tomas Mosquera is out because of bereavement.
Mosquera scored two goals last round but Jerram Tuck grabbed a hattrick and has five goals in the golden boot race with Mosquera one behind.
In other matches today, Western Suburbs host Miramar at 2.30pm at Endeavour Park, Petone host Upper Hutt City at 3pm at Petone Memorial Park, the Greeks host Tawa AFC at 5.45pm at Wakefield Park No 2. Wairarapa United tomorrow host Lower Hutt City at QEII Park, Masterton, in a 2pm kick off.
MATCH DETAILS
WHO: Palmerston North Marist v Bluewater Napier City Rovers.
WHEN: Today, 2pm kick off.
WHERE: Memorial Park, Palmerston North.
REFEREE: David Beattie.
PALMY NTH MARIST: 1 Gurkarnvir Singh (GK), 3 Jeremy Wild, 4 Wade Randle, 5 Khair Jones, 6 Jordan Martens, 7 Michael Sheridan, 8 Tyson Brandt, 10 Jerram Tuck, 11 Michael Crisford (c), 14 Steve Tippett, 15 Rhys Gayler, 16 Jonothan Steele, 17 Fin Milne, 19 Brent Argyle, 20 Woody Maxey-Graham, 21 Ashish Sahayam.
Coach: Simon Lees.
Manager: Steve Green.
NAPIER CITY ROVERS: 1 Jonty Underhill (GK), 2 Josh Anstis, 3 Daniel Ball, 4 Bayley Chadderton, 6 Miles John, 7 Matt Hastings, 8 Stu Wilson, 10 Andrija Ilic, 11 Andy Bevin, 12 Oli Chapman, 14 Josh Stevenson, 15 Ryan Tinsley, 16 Danny Wilson (c), 18 Angus Kilkolly, 20 Chris Greatholder, Kyle Baxter (RGK).
Coach/player: Bill Robertson.
Manager: Malcolm Wilson.
