Dejected Havelock North Wanderers players' body language says it all after the 5-1 loss to North Wellington in the round-two Chatham Cup match at Guthrie Park, Hastings, today. Photo/Paul Taylor
Dejected Havelock North Wanderers players' body language says it all after the 5-1 loss to North Wellington in the round-two Chatham Cup match at Guthrie Park, Hastings, today. Photo/Paul Taylor
Central Federation League sides Havelock North Wanderers and Napier Marist have bowed out of the Chatham Cup campaign after succumbing to their elite Central League opponents in round two of the national knockout competition today.
North Wellington walloped the Building King-sponsored villagers 5-1 at Guthrie Park, Hastings, while Alexander Electric-sponsoredNapier Marist went down 3-1 to Stop Out Sports Club in Wellington.
Wanderers player/coach Chris Greatholder felt the Wanderers hadn't given a good account of themselves despite trailing 2-1 at the break although Bjorn Christensen put them up 1-0 in just the 10th minute against the giant-killing visitors who had pipped defending Central League champions Napier City Rovers 1-0 at Alex Moore Park, Wellington, in a league clash on Saturday.
"I don't think we played well and let them off the hook a little bit because we were just as good as them, if not better in the first half hour," Greatholder lamented of the Jerome Groot-captained hosts who are undefeated in topping the Fed League table with aspirations to return to the premier winter league next year.
"We had created two or three chances and then we gave away two crappy goals, which had changed the game a little bit, I felt."
He said gifting cheaps goals to an opposition as good as North Wellington was unnecessary and always going to make their task harder.
However, Greatholder reiterated what he said in the post-match speech in the clubrooms that it was a good day for them, regardless of the result.
His men had learned that the space and time they enjoyed in the Fed League were not a given against teams in the higher echelons so the purpose of competing in the cup to expose his predominantly youthful side had been accomplished.
"We just need to evaluate ourselves and move on from here," he said.
Wanderers player Guy Reeves can't stop North Wellington's Corey Larsen from scoring the third goal in the Chatham Cup round two match in Hastings today. Photo/Paul Taylor
It didn't miss the attention of Greatholder and his players that North Wellington were quicker and stronger on the ball in their "direct" approach than what they were accustomed to in the Fed League.
"You have to find your space and we couldn't play out to play our brand of football so, yes, lessons learned," he said. "They [North Wellington] do not really play football much in the way of football but they do do the basics really well and look after each other well."
At Hutt Park, Stop Out went up in the 42nd minute but Napier Marist equalised in the 65th minute from a Harry Mason penalty kick after the hosts brought down Josh Murphy in the box.
The visitors came close to equalising, after Stop Out took the lead in the 75th minute, when a Murphy strike clipped the crossbar to ricochet before the ball was cleared from the goal line.
The hosts took the guess work out with another goal, five minutes before the final whistle despite some goalkeeping heroics from veteran Ryan Todd while Lee Jackson marshalled the defence.
