17 AUG 1998 , Edition 2, Page 17.
Whistle goes on Ngaruawahia‘s fairytale run in Chatham Cup
By: ANDERSON Ian
Spirit, dreams and support can take you a long way.
But they can’t produce magic.
Ngaruawahia United’s fairytale Chatham Cup run ended in Dunedin yesterday with a 2-0 loss to Dunedin Technical. The inevitable finally happened –Ngaruawahia got beaten by a better side.
The home team, unbeaten this year and Cup semifinalists for the third successive year, deserved the win. But Ngaruawahia can hold their heads high.
They scrapped for every meagre morsel of possession, ran until legs and lungs gave out and nearly, possibly, could have grabbed another miraculous victory. But Tech survived two close shaves and their size, strength and pace eventually told.
Nikolai Helwig came close to hero status after 20 minutes when Scott Granville’s free-kick, with a gale-force breeze behind it, rebounded off Tech goalkeeper Rod Renfrew’s chest and Helwig poked his shot goalward only for a desperate defending leg to deflect the ball over the crossbar from near point-blank range.
Aaron Kingi flashed a header from a corner centimetres over just minutes later but the match turned when Kingi was off the field receiving urgent treatment for a nasty gash to the head suffered from a clash when bravely clearing a dangerous cross.
With Ngaruawahia down to 10 men temporarily, Tech cut through the heart of the visiting defence to set up striker Rod Fleming, and although his first shot was blocked brilliantly by keeper Simon Eady, the rebound fell neatly for Fleming to blast home after 36 minutes.
As Dunedin coach Roger Brooks admitted afterwards, the goal settled the nervy favourites and disheartened the tenacious underdogs.
The diminutive twin strikeforce of Glen Brown and Helwig struggled to make any headway in the second spell into the wind as Tech pressed forward regularly, but the game wasn’t decided until Graham Marshall snuck in behind the Ngaruawahia defence with 15 minutes left.
Defender Marcus Traill tried valiantly to make up the ground but his lunge as Marshall shot could only provide a deflection which left Eady stranded and the home supporters jubilant.
Eady produced a handful of superlative saves and his handling of crosses was exemplary.
Brian Hayes was inspirational too for his adopted winter league side in the centre of the park. It wasn’t a day when anyone from Ngaruawahia should have felt down, despite the result. The dream was over, but it was marvellous while it lasted.