SOCCER: Rovers clinch cliffhanger

HAMISH BIDWELL
There are harder ways to earn a living than by covering sport, but that's not to say it's always a pleasure.
You can endure some pretty dull weekends at times, watching one load of donkeys make hard work of beating another. Throw in some ordinary weather and it becomes difficult to be even remotely enthused.
Then, thank goodness, there are the matches that shake you out of your funk and remind why you chose this career in the first place. There are a number that come to mind, but few better than Napier City Rovers 1-0 win over Gisborne City in the third round of the Chatham Cup at Bluewater Stadium yesterday.
There's just something about a cup tie and that whole sudden death aspect. Add some tricky conditions, a long and fierce rivalry and two evenly-matched teams and you've got the recipe for a real cliffhanger.
So it proved yesterday in one of the best knock 'em down, drag 'em out contests you could ever wish to see. The fitness and the courage of all the players was remarkable and, from a local perspective, it was heartening to see that Rovers had more when it really mattered. Not to mention that little touch of class.
Any goal for the home side is a good one, but we will wait a long time to see one better than that scored by Rovers captain Chris Greatholder (pictured above). It came in the 61st minute and, like all Rovers' best chances on the day, was courtesy of Graham Fyfe.
As the Rovers poured forward on the counter-attack Fyfe, ball on a string as usual, assessed who best to pick out with a cross. From wide on the left flank, Fyfe spied Greatholder making an unmarked run towards the back post.
Fyfe's cross was pin-point accurate, if a little high, but proved no problem for his captain who hit his waist-high volley rocketing past Gisborne goalkeeper Danny Robinson and into the top corner of the net. Given the form Robinson and Rovers' Scott Dunn were in between the sticks, it was starting to look as though it would take something special to break the deadlock, but this was ridiculous.
"I saw Chrissy yesterday and I said to him 'it's about time you scored' and he said 'I'm going to wait until it's really important' and he did," marvelled Rovers coach Matt Chandler.
"Macca (Chris McIvor) had had a couple of chances and Dunny had made a couple of magnificent saves. There was one before halftime that, if it wasn't world class, was definitely national class. It was a fantastic save.
"Perry (Cotton) was brilliant, Regan (Cameron) continues to be such a consistent performer and Reiner (Bauerfeind) was great again. Everyone was and the players showed the spirit and passion that's within this club."
That wasn't confined to the pitch, either, as the fans found voice with a chorus of 'come on you blues.'
"I haven't heard that from the fans before and a couple of the players said it hadn't happened for ages. To see it happening and to hear the crowd responding just proves to me that there really is something going on here," Chandler said.