It seems Wanganui City can't buy a trick this season.
Twelve months ago, Chatham Cup was a celebration of sorts with some entertaining fixtures against strong Wellington-based sides Island Bay and Mirimar to be precise.
This season, the Wanganui side has been bundled out in inglorious fashion at the handsof Inglewood AFC to the tune of 5-1 at Karo Park (Inglewood) on Saturday.
After a bright start, City were soon on the back foot after being reduced to 10 men after 25 minutes when stand in goalkeeper Glenn Graham lost his bearings and "handled" the ball outside his own penalty area and was shown a straight red card.
With the unscheduled adjustment to their opposition's formation, and with the obvious numerical advantage, Inglewood pounced to strike in four game deciding goals in the next 20 minutes to take a 4-0 lead to the half time.
It proved an insurmountable task for visiting City to overcome, although they were the side playing all the football in the second half and at one stage reduced the deficit to 4-1.
That made their hosts look nervous, but Inglewood were able to strike on a counter attack after City were shortened up in playing numbers with 10 minutes remaining, when striker Chris Annabell was shown two yellow cards simultaneously and given his marching orders as well.
With the two-man advantage, Inglewood grab a last opportunity to sneak a far post shot past substitute keeper Jack Judd-Nuttall, who had been seriously untroubled the whole second half.
Much like City, Wanganui Athletic 1sts were undone in their respective "cup" competition.
Last Saturday, up against Western Premiership leaders Redsox Rovers (Manawatu) at Wembley Park, Athletic were unable to turn around the previous weekend's loss to the same side beaten 6-1 in the Easter Cup game.
For the young Mickey Cronin-coached side, it remains a work in progress as many are still finding their feet at this level.
While it is always ideal to progress in any competition, the Easter Cup was looked at more for continuity of game time rather than results-based.
