2019 Chatham Cup Final

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Thrilling Finish Sees Napier Top Ten-Man Melville

by Jeremy Ruane

Napier City Rovers mounted a thrilling ISPS Handa Chatham Cup Final comeback to overcome Melville United 3-2 at QBE Stadium on September 8, with four of the five goals scored materialising inside the last ten minutes.

United started brightly, threatening inside two minutes when Federico Marquez dashed down the left before delivering a cross to the far post which Josh Davies headed wide.

Napier retorted straight away, and had strong penalty claims rebuffed by referee Antony Riley, who deemed that Gavin Hoy wasn't taken out from behind as he surged into the area. The striker's reaction begged to differ.

Melville pressed again, with scrambling defence from Napier allowing them to survive a raid in which Marquez and Marc Evans were prominent. But after Napier's Sho Goto had seen United 'keeper Max Tommy right behind his thirty yard free-kick, the Waikato side opened the scoring.

Craig Pritchard led the charge before feeding Evans, who brought Marquez into play. He evaded a challenge before smashing a rocket into the top corner of the net from the edge of the penalty area - a finish well worthy of the stage upon which it was scored.

That goal stunned Napier, and they came close to conceding another, with a Davies drive being smothered by Joshua Hill, whose opposite number was in the thick of the action three minutes later, charging out of his area in an attempt to clear the ball, only to collide with Joshua Stevenson in spectacular fashion.

Both players were waylaid by the incident, but were able to continue after treatment, although the Napier man was withdrawn from the fray at half-time - he landed very heavily, and was feeling his back throughout the remainder of the half.

After Napier had scrambled to safety a Mark Jones free-kick, Melville went close to doubling their lead in the 22nd minute. Logan Wisnewski and Pritchard worked an opening for Marquez, whose sizzling drive was superbly tipped over the bar by Hill.

United pressed again soon afterwards, this time on the counter-attack. Jones led the raid, but it was the lung-busting run of Marquez which made the move, the midfielder storming forward from deep before taking the ball into the Napier area, from where he fired in a cross which Davies just failed to do justice to while under pressure on the far post.

The well-supported Waikato side were well in the ascendancy by this time, with Bill Robertson forced to clear off the toes of Marquez after Wisnewski and Evans had combined to play him in through the inside-left channel in the 34th minute.

Four minutes later, Evans pulled a shot across the face of goal after working an opening with Marquez, while after Tommy had spilled a Hoy drive - Aaron Scott was cleared the danger posed by the loose ball before Jonathan McNamara could capitalise - Pritchard, whose frequent dives had been ignored by referee Riley, stayed on his feet to deliver a cross which zoomed across Davies' bows as the half drew to a close.

The second half began in comparatively quiet fashion, with a Goto shot over the bar the only incident of note in the opening quarter-hour. But in the 62nd minute, only a vital challenge by Karan Mandair prevented Pritchard getting on the end of a cross from Jones. Davies latched onto the rebound, but his shot was blocked to safety.

Back came Napier, Tommy blocking a shot from substitute Martin Bueno with his legs before superbly tipping a header from Robertson over the bar from the resulting corner.

Napier were starting to get a head of steam up, and

their momentum was given a massive boost in the 65th minute when Jones committed his second bookable offence and earned himself a red card - no doubt his wife, FIFA referee's assistant Sarah Jones - will read him the riot act over that one!

Melville briefly rallied, Evans releasing Pritchard down the right before making a diagonal run to meet his cross to the far post, only for Hill to grab Evans' shot, United's last for the next fifteen minutes.

During which time the heavens opened, rain tumbling down and really testing a playing surface which was in superb condition, given it had hosted a rugby match the night before, as well as the NZ Football Foundation Kate Sheppard Cup Final immediately beforehand - hats off to the groundstaff for a job well done on that score!

Also during this time, Napier grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck and turned things round in their favour. Tommy made a fistful of saves, from Hoy, then from Bueno in a one-on-one - how the 'keeper got away with pushing down his opponent in the immediate aftermath as Bueno pursued the rebound defies logic!

Tommy then kicked clear a cross from Hoy before smothering a Liam Schofield drive at the second attempt as Napier piled on the pressure, with Melville finally buckling in the 83rd minute.

A Schofield cross from the left was blocked, but the wing-back came again. This time, he picked out the head of Bueno, who guided the ball down for McNamara to swivel and fire home the equaliser from eight yards.

Melville were still reeling from that blow when Napier struck again two minutes later. Hoy played in Schofield on the left, and he made the most of the extra space afforded him by Jones' departure before drilling the ball hard and low across Tommy and into the bottom far corner of the net.

2-1 Napier, and their fans started taunting their Melville counterparts with a rendition of "You're not singing anymore!", which was drowned out by a sustained joyous roar from the United fans as their team equalised in the 86th minute. A free-kick was hoisted forward from half-way and flicked on by Evans towards Scott, who swiveled to stab the ball home from close range - 2-2.

Now it was all on for young and old alike, but Napier had that all-important one-man advantage, and made it count in the 89th minute. A corner to the near post, targeting player-coach Robertson, was cleared to the edge of the area, where Goto was lurking, and from where he unleashed a stunning volley which was worthy of winning many a final - it was a terrific strike which crashed into the net via the underside of the bar.

All the momentum was with Napier in stoppage time, and after Andrew Abba had jinked his way through before deftly chipping over the target, Tommy pawed out a Bueno free-kick before denying the substitute with his legs in another one-on-one opportunity, Bueno having raced clear on the right.

There was one last chance for Melville to equalise when Evans unleashed a cross-shot deep in stoppage time, but Hill's denial sparked off celebrations among the Napier fans, with the final whistle confirming City Rovers as Chatham Cup winners for the fifth time in their history.

Melville: Tommy; O'Brien, Scott, Searle; Jones (booked, 30, 65 - sent off), Wisnewski, Hayes, Pritchard, Marquez (Steffert, 68); Davies (Christensen-Rose, 88), Evans

Napier: Hill; Atkins, Robertson, Hoyle; Wilkinson (Abba, 54), Goto, Mandair, Schofield (booked, 86); Hoy, McNamara, Stevenson (booked, 40) (Bueno, 46)

Referee: Antony Riley

Chatham Cup