Soccer: Locals get the boot in cup ties

There was good home support for Ngongotaha and Whakatane Town for their second round Chatham Cup ties on Monday but both were eliminated by their Northern League opponents.

At Stembridge Rd, Ngongotaha set their stall out early, playing with just one striker and packing the midfield and defence.

This allowed Takapuna to dominate from the outset but it took them 40 minutes to break through. Behind at the break the Villagers needed to throw caution to the wind, but it was the visitors who continued their dominance, scoring early in the second half to put themselves in a comfortable position.

Ngongotaha were restricted to the odd break but rarely threatened the Takapuna goal. The game was killed off with 15 minutes left when Takapuna made it 3-0. For Ngongotaha, keeper Shekel Graham had a good game making several important saves.

At Rex Morpeth Park, it couldn't have been a worse start for Whakatane when Mangere scored in the second minute.

But the home team picked themselves up and were desperately unlucky not to score several times. The crowd got behind them as they continued to take the game to Mangere but with two minutes left the visitors, against the run of play, made it 2-0 and that was how it ended.

"We played well and were the best team for eighty-six of the ninety minutes," Whakatane Coach Mike Ward said.

"It's disappointing but the boys can hold their heads high."

Otumoetai lost 3-0 to Waitemata and it was also a 3-0 loss for Waikato Unicol against Oratia meaning that all four WaiBop Federation League sides were eliminated.

In the one federation league game, Tauranga Boys' College upset AFC Fury 1-0.