Picking up pieces after cup boil over
IT’S something coaches deal with dexterity when the occasion demands but not many fans are privy to what unfolds in the bowels of a changing room after a devastating defeat in a football match.
Players flop to the floor and benches akin to discarded sweaty and soiled strips, shorts and socks.
Their souls are laid bare, shattered and spent in the mould of used shin pads and hastily ripped insulation tapes employed 90 minutes earlier to prop up socks and keep down boot laces.
Apart from the physiotherapist and team manager moving around with the respect of those visiting a monastery where monks have taken a vow of silence, there isn’t much sign of sound and movement.
That, my friends, is what the Conroy Removals Napier City Rovers changing room resembled after their soul-destroying 4-3 Chatham Cup loss to Miramar Rangers in Napier last Sunday.
“It hits hard. There’s a lot of emotion afterwards so it goes to show how much that meant to us together as a group to try to win the double this year,” says Rovers assistant coach Chris Greatholder.
“We wanted to win the Chatham Cup and we weren’t trying to make any bones about that,” says the 38-year-old before the table-topping defending champions pick up the fragments of self-belief to soldier on in the Lotto Central League match against Wairarapa United at Masterton Turf from 2pm tomorrow.
It’s a challenge for him and coach Bill Robertson to revitalise the lads to bounce back for a successful season.
“We’re not used to losing and we’re not trying to be arrogant about it either because we’ve only lost a couple of games in a couple of years,” says Greatholder. “The losing feeling is never nice anyway but it’s brutal that knockout cup, which is one of the reasons why we got back together but then it ends in the click of a finger and there are no second chances.”
The coaches had impressed on the Danny Wilson-captained Blues to brace themselves, especially the latent hurt that follows and lingers.
“We’ve told them to prepare for the opposition coming in in a few minutes to put their stereo on and dancing around and singing songs and stuff and that’s going to hurt even more.”
Greatholder says what’s important is players returning from the loss more determined.
The Rovers, he says, have high standards, emphasising only a few years ago it was unheard of for the club’s flagship side talking about making the cup final before the season kicked off.
“We expect to beat teams and we expect to play at a certain level all the time.”
Not everything is lost. They are still setting the pace on the top of the league and still have the O’Brien Challenge Shield at the clubrooms to defend at home.
“We’re the current league champions and we believe we’ll go all the way to win the league again.”
It is tough but the productivity must remain. That’s where Greatholder and Robertson “come into our own”.
“We did a lot of individual and team goal settings and we’ve got a dossier that we live on this season and what the boys expect of each other.”
That extends to what they expect of the coaching stable and vice-versa as individuals and as a group.
It is something they sporadically revisit to reinforce their belief and rejuvenate before crucial games.
“We’ve got the added problem, I guess, of teams sniffing blood now because we’re appearing a little weaker than what we were once.
“If you’re Wairarapa now you’d fancy your chances now more than you would have last year, probably.”
It excites Greatholder that the Blues have to reconfigure to a certain degree to try to recreate an air of invincibility around themselves.
Centreback and co-captain Finlay Milne is out with a hamstring injury, joining playmaker Saul Halpin while No 1 goalkeeper Ruben Parker Hanks returns.
But Greatholder is loath to use the battle with injuries, akin to of applying linament to soothe aches and pains.
“You have stronger sides come through adversity and we’ve has some injuries to key players such as Stevie Hoyle and Gus [Angus Kilkolly] has gone on to get a pro contract, which is brilliant now,” Greatholder says of the 19-year-old striker who left last month to ply his trade in Lithuania.
Those marquee types have “magic in their boots” and have a tendency to do something special when the chips are down.
“Things haven’t gone the way we wanted it to but I suppose it’s how you cope and a sign of champions is getting up again in the face of adversity.”
In Tuesday night’s training the Rovers had only seven fit players out of a squad of 20 at the adjacent ground at Park Island so that inhibited their scope of training. However, they’re all available tomorrow.
“We’re patching up hamstrings and mending tears so the physio’s working really hard and our recovery’s really important now because the games are coming thick and fast.”
As raw as it was, Greatholder watched the cup game again on videotape and came away satisfied it was a great game of footy that could have gone either way.
“You cringe at some of the chances we missed but, at the same time, they played well and they’re a very good side, Miramar, who have strengths all the way through.”
Moving on, the Blues recognise Wairarapa have five or so quality players who could hurt them as well.
“For me, if you’re Wairarapa it’s a great time to play us because they’ll be up for it and have some great footballers down there who’ll make it quite hard for us so it’s going to be a great game.”
Rivalry, Greatholder stresses, is a primary reason why he played the game so he’s hoping the boys will feel the same way in setting their markers out again.
“If we win every game this season we should win the league again.”
No doubt, Miramar will return to Bluewater Stadium on July 24 and the rematch should be a classic.
Wairarapa are coming off a 3-1 loss in a friendly to Wellington Phoenix in front of 3500 at Masterton Turf on Tuesday night.
Coach Paul Ifill says they owe Rovers one for blowing a 2-0 lead in their 3-2 defeat at Park Island.