Delay no concern for Charity Cup rivals

Joshua Ngapeka.

Neither the Big Orange Wanganui City 1sts nor Devon Homes Wanganui Athletic 1sts have been put out by the seven-day delay to their collision in this afternoon's rescheduled Charity Cup match at Wembley Park.

The Friday and early Saturday morning deluge last weekend put pay to any hopes of getting out on the No1 field for a meaningful end to the 2017 season, and although light rain was forecast for early this morning and some at lunchtime, it will only be enough for winter's final stand.

"Last week, when I walked the pitch, the ground felt good but the water just sat on top and the puddles made it unplayable," said Athletic coach Jason King.

No commitments made prior to last weekend will prevent either team from having their full squads available, with Athletic and City able to add two further training sessions this week, side by side.

"Me and Kelvin [Francis] looking over at each other, thinking 'we should have finished this last week'," laughed King.

Francis joked that dragging the season out another weekend into mid-September has seen daylight return to their twilight training sessions, just as it was for the pre-season work done all the way back in January.

The delay has allowed Joshua Ngapeka to recover from illness and take his place on the bench, while Francis was just waiting to confirm the status of one player who suffered a burst eardrum after a ball strike at Thursday training.

"Other than that, got a full roster, fit and ready to go."

King is also advantaged as he had four secondary school players coming back from tournament week last Saturday who have now had extra time to recover and focus on the one-off Cup derby.

Key defender Symon King was away last week, and while he will now have junior representative coaching commitments today, he should still be able to join the Athletic team and come off the bench at some stage.

No other games will be played on Wembley Park No1 prior to the Cup match.

The curtain-raiser of the Charity Plate final will be moved to whichever Wembley ground is looking in the best condition.

The 40-minute semifinals will be held this morning, with the GVCA Wanganui Athletic Reserves meeting clubmates the Athletic Weekenders in one game, while City Hammers face Marist Celtic in the other.

While the favourites, the Athletic Reserves, have lost Dan Timmins (five goals) due to a prior commitment, leader Richard Dalby would have missed last Saturday and is now available.

Today will also see junior representative games with teams from Manawatu and Taranaki coming to town.