Wairarapa beat Napier in cup
Wairarapa United have ended Napier City Rovers’ Chatham Cup dream again.
Goalscoring doubles to former Phoenix star Paul Ifill and Swedish striker Ermal Hajdari saw the visitors win 5-4 in extra time at Napier’s Park Island to send Rovers tumbling out in the third round.
Wairarapa, who beat Napier 2-1 in the 2011 Chatham Cup final, will discover their fourth-round opponents on Wednesday when they join Wellington sides Western Suburbs, Miramar Rangers and Stop Out in the national draw.
An early Ifill penalty gave Wairarapa a 1-0 halftime lead and they looked home at 3-1 up with 20 minutes left, after Hajdari rounded the Napier keeper to slot home his first.
But Ross Willox and Angus Kilkolly struck twice in four minutes for the hosts to send it to extra time at 3-3.
Again, Wairarapa kicked out to a handy buffer with two goals in five minutes, including Hajdari’s second, as they finished strongly before Kilkolly grabbed one back with three minutes remaining.
Western Suburbs made an emphatic statement, fielding a full-strength lineup and putting seven goals past Petone. It means Wests have scored 21 goals in just three Chatham Cup matches.
It took 20 minutes for Xavier Green to open the scoring for Wests but they were dominant from the outset, Petone unable to keep up with them in midfield and struggling to make headway against the most dominant defensive pairing in the Central League: Mikey Faber and Kyle Adams.
Three more goals would whistle past Jake Piper in the Petone goal before halftime. Petone’s plight got worse with the withdrawal through injury of their former national league centre back Karl Whalen at halftime.
That was the beginning of the end of Petone’s challenge. Despite having a brief resurgence after halftime they never troubled Andrew Withers and Wests dominated without being troubled.
Miramar Rangers progressed after a comfortable 3-0 victory over Tawa FC. Niko Kirwan’s return to first-team action paid dividends, opening the scoring for Miramar just before the 20 minute mark.
Mikhail Bredevelt made it two on about the half-hour mark and that’s how it would stay until late in the match.
Tawa had a spell of pressure after halftime but despite causing Miramar some nervous moments they weren’t able to get themselves on the scoresheet. Fraser Norrington rounded out the scoring with 15 to go.
North Wellington came close to an upset over Stop Out at Hutt Park, taking the lead in the fifth minute. They couldn’t hold that lead though. Steven Gulley equalised for Stop Out before halftime, slipping it coolly past North Wellington’s surprise stand-in keeper Karl Romijn, who is normally a central-midfielder.
Stop Out turned up the pressure on their lower-league opposition in the second half. An error from Romijn gave Stop Out a 2-1 lead, with Luke Grindlay the scorer, and they scored again when an innocuous ball across the box wasn’t cleared and Jerram Tuck tucked it away.
North Wellington had a brief resurgence when a freekick floated over James McPeake in the Stop Out goal but they couldn’t find an equaliser and it finished 3-2.