Football: Napier City Rovers slump to second consecutive defeat in Central League tonight

Blues player Jamie Wilkinson is hard to go past in defence, as Stop Out striker Cameron McKenzie found out in April, but the Englishman will miss the Chatham Cup clash on Monday. Photo/file

Napier City Rovers coach Bill Robertson can't remember the last time they lost two consecutive games in winter.

But Robertson wasn't disappointed after the Thirsty Whale-sponsored Blues succumbed 1-0 to North Wellington in the capital city tonight.

"That speaks volumes for the high standards we set as a club and how successful we've been," he said after the Blues' third loss this season.

The gut-wrenching goal came in the 90th minute akin to a "sucker punch" from centre midfielder Matt Todd-Smith at Alex Moore Park at the halfway mark of Central League.

"It was a contrasting performance from last weekend so, in my opinion, we were the better side today and we were very unlucky to lose the game," centreback Robertson said, after the Rovers lost 6-1 away to Wellington Olympic the previous Saturday.

He felt a stalemate would probably have been a fairer result for the Fergus Neil-captained side, owing to the number of chances the visitors had created but not finishing clinically.

Japan import Sho Goto, he said, had a couple of great opportunities but didn't have the rub of the artificial turf today.

A counter attack, after the Rovers pushed higher up the field to find a winner, had undone 89 minutes of solid defence.

"It's a disappointing result but I'm pleased with the performance because we've done enough to win the game but, obviously, the score doesn't reflect that," he said, after the Rovers had beaten North Wellington 2-1 at Bluewater Stadium in their league opener.

"The performance was much improved from last weekend so to play like that, nine times out of 10, I think, we're going to win the game."

Robertson agreed the other way of looking at their effort was not doing enough earlier in the match and paying the price of desperately seeking a winner in the dying minutes.

He ruled out any hangover from the previous round's defeat, revealing the Blues had addressed a few shortcomings at concerted training nights.

Napier City Rovers player Sho Goto, playing against Western Suburbs earlier in the season, had a couple of chances to put his side up in the first half but it didn't happen today. Photo/file

For the Blues to defend their crown it was imperative they maintain those standards.

Interestingly enough, 2017 champions Western Suburbs, who had leapfrogged Rovers last weekend, had slumped to a 3-0 defeat to Miramar Rangers today although they maintained their perch on the top rung.

"The league's tight where everyone is capable of beating everyone so we're just two points Suburbs and still have a lot to play for," he said. "I don't think it's the last game Western Suburbs will lose so we'll have to wait to see what happens."

He said it was a miserably cold day — hovering around 6C with howling wind and driving rain — in Wellington and the worst his troops had experienced in the league to date.

"It wasn't easy to get the ball down to play football and we obviously try to do that," he said, revealing it would be a contrasting climate at Park Island, Napier, on Monday when they host Tawa (Wellington) in their round two Chatham Cup encounter in a 2pm kick off.

Englishman Jamie Wilkinson will miss the cup clash for picking up his fifth yellow card today.

Robertson was hoping to contact Building King Havelock North Wanderers coach Chris Greatholder before they host North Wellington at Guthrie Park in the village for the 1pm cup kick off on Monday.

"I'm sure if you're Havelock you're looking at it and going, 'There is an opportunity here for a result'," he said, mindful the Wanderers had not played today in the Central Federation League.

Fed League newcomers Alexander Electric Napier Marist FC play Stop Out Sports Club from 2pm in Wellington in the other cup clash involving Bay teams on Monday.