Meville the last team standing
The magic of the Chatham Cup is that anything can happen.
And on Saturday, the Waikato’s three teams received quite the mixed bag in the national men’s knockout football competition.
The best result came at Gower Park, where Melville United made light work of Franklin United, a team who play in the northern league first division alongside them, and who they had already beaten 4-0 and 10-0 this winter.
It was a much-changed Melville team that took the field, with leading goalscorer Marc Evans on the bench, and several other regular starters not even in the matchday squad.
But despite the unfamiliar combinations, they never let Franklin have a real sniff as they ran out 7-1 winners.
Eric Jones got them on the board early, and Steven Holloway quickly followed up to make it 2-0 inside 20 minutes, tapping in a Jama Boss pass across goal.
Franklin did strike back as the game approached the half-hour mark, when Michael Fifi’i took advantage of some confusion in the box to pounce on the ball and direct it goalward, but Patrick Hinchcliffe replied immediately to ease any fears that may have started to set in.
It was 3-1 at the break, and Evans then made it 4-1 within seconds of the restart. He added two more - one from the penalty spot - to notch his seventh hat-trick of the season, and take his tally in all competitions to 32, while Hinchcliffe also added another, taking his tally for the season to three.
The win moves Melville through to the round of 16 in the ISPS Handa Chatham Cup, and they will be the only Waikato club there, after Hamilton Wanderers and Matamata Swifts both lost.
Wanderers suffered a cruel defeat, letting a 2-0 lead slip inside the final 10 minutes before going down in a penalty shootout to Bay Olympic at their Porritt Stadium home.
Henry Stephen and Zach Newdick had put Wanderers ahead at halftime, and they held that two-goal lead until the 81st minute, when Jared Colligan struck to give Bay Olympic hope. That hope was then rewarded just four minutes later, when Altaaf Sahib levelled the scores.
Neither side could find the back of the net in extra time, so it was to the penalty mark to decide things, and Bay Olympic prevailed 4-2.
In Matamata, the hosts were looking to continue their golden run. It wasn’t to be, as an early own goal put North Shore United ahead, and Herve Kadiya then doubled the lead just before
halftime, and that was how it finished, 2-0 to the visitors.
Matamata put up a good fight - and had a strong penalty shout denied in the first half - but just couldn’t find an answer against North Shore, who play two divisions higher.
Having been knocked out of the Chatham Cup in the previous round, Claudelands Rovers were in action in the northern league’s men’s second division on Saturday, where they had a 2-2 draw away to Papakura City. A third-minute strike from Magi Mas Manresa and an own goal had put them 2-0 up in the first half but they were pegged back, conceding in the 35th, to Peter Wild, and 75th, to Charlie Heather.
Claudelands Rovers were also the only Waikato team remaining in the National Women’s Knockout Cup, which was already down to the final 16, but they lost 4-1 to Three Kings United at home yesterday.