16 AUG 1998 , Edition 1, Page 42.
Business end of Chatham Cup
By: CLEAVER Dylan
Ngaruawahia supporters on the verandah of the Delta Tavern, Ngaruawahia. United's captain Matty Williams on the right.
SENTIMENTALISTS are rooting for Ngaruawahia while realists and southerners expect Dunedin Technical to be far too strong.
In the second Chatham Cup semifinal, the all-Auckland derby between neighbouring clubs Metro and Central falls in the too-close-to-call category.
Central won the prized trophy last year and have become one of the power clubs in New Zealand soccer, but Metro has fashioned an impressive record in the northern premier league in recent seasons.
Both games are played this afternoon with Dunedin hosting Ngaruawahia and Central home to Metro at its Kiwitea St ground.
Ngaruawahia was lobbying to have the game changed to the Saturday to make travel and accommodation plans easier, but Dunedin successfully argued it would attract a much bigger crowd on the Sunday.
Ngaruawahia has struggled of late in division one of the northern league and has found goals to be as rare as diamonds in a coal mine.
Dunedin has had no such problems, rampaging through the southern league with nary a problem.
However, Ngaruawahia captain Matthew Williams was confident of a positive result.
“Yeah, we can win this one, no doubt about that,” he said.
The match will also serve as a useful guide to the strength of soccer at either end of the country.
Metro has been in similar form to Dunedin but in the north, while Central has been struggling to recapture its National League form, sitting below halfway.
However, Central coach Terry Torrens believed his side could step up a gear for a one-off situation.
“We’re quietly confident,” he said.
“They (Metro) will probably go into the match as favourite. They’ve got a pretty strong team all over the field, but I’m sure we can come up with something on the day.”
The team needs to improve on the last time the two met. Less than a month ago Central went down to Metro 4-1 in the league.
It could face further problems if All White Noah Hickey doesn’t recover from injury in time for kickoff. – Dylan Cleaver