Bill Robertson
"We dodged a few bullets," was the verdict of Western Suburbs coach Lloyd O'Keefe.
It must have been the stuff that makes Hollywood action movies box-office hits because, despite all that, O'Keefe's men thrashed Bluewater Napier City Rovers 4-1 in Wellington on Saturday.
"It could have been much tighter but our goalkeeper, Mitchell Stewart-Hill, was simply outstanding," he said as the hosts were up 2-0 at halftime through Muhammad Awad in the 16th minute and Alex Palezevic in the 37th at Endeavour Park.
Elliot Collier made it 3-0 in the 61st minute and Bayley Webster well and truly turned the lights out in the 79th.
For the visitors, English import midfielder Ryan Tinsley got a consolation goal in the 86th minute, nodding in a corner kick.
It is better coming from O'Keefe than from Rovers player/coach Bill Robertson, who rued missed opportunities and mistakes.
"The scoreline doesn't reflect the game because we created more chances than them," the centreback said, adding Matt Hastings missed a penalty kick in the 51st minute after Suburbs centreback Tyler Lissette fouled striker Angus Kilkolly in an aerial tussle "leading with his arm".
Hastings, who traditionally picks the left side of the goalkeeper and also missed against Wellington Olympic in the Chatham Cup win last Monday, stuck to his guns to clip the crossbar and deflect back into play.
O'Keefe felt a taller Lissette was always against it in the air and referee Mark Whitehead did what most refs would have adjudged.
"It looked worse than it was," he said, just delighted to have three league wins in a row.
O'Keefe thought the Blues were still dealing with the "Chatham Cup hangover" after beating the Greeks 5-4 in extra time in Napier.
Robertson said Suburbs named keeper Stewart-Hill their player of the match, validating his claim of Rovers' ascendancy and the several scoring chances that went begging.
He bemoaned a soft second goal, a feeble pass back to keeper Kyle Baxter that Palezevic gobbled up before depositing the ball into the net.
Furthermore, the ground was "cut up" so the ball bubbled and wasn't conducive to the possession-based game O'Keefe had forecast.
"The surface wasn't good at all ... two games were played before ours."
No arguments from O'Keefe, who agreed it wasn't acceptable but claimed it was a public park and out of the club's control.
"It wasn't as good as Park Island but it was not bad on perfect conditions [weather-wise].
"It was a pretty fair result. It could have been a little closer but other than that they don't have much to complain about," O'Keefe said.
The Rovers host Palmerston North Marist in the third round of the Chatham Cup in a 2pm kick off this Sunday.
In other games on Saturday, leaders Miramar Rangers beat Upper Hutt City 6-4 with player/coach Luis Corrales grabbing a hattrick for the losers. Palmy Marist went down 1-0 to Tawa and Petone pipped Lower Hutt City 2-1.
In the yesterday's clash, hosts Wairarapa United upset the Greeks 4-3 after coming from 2-0 and 3-1 down to plant the winning goal in the last five minutes.
"They (Wairarapa] were bloody awful in the first half but they played the best game of soccer this season in the second half. They are certainly playing a different style under [relieving coach] Bob Sova," a spectator said.