2 JUN 1998 , Edition 2, Page 10.
No 1 shirts in good hands . . .
By: ANDERSON Ian
Goalkeepers starred as Hamilton Wanderers and Ngaruawahia advanced to the last 16 of soccer’s Chatham Cup yesterday.
Wanderers got a sterling performance from Grant Mawston to help beat Fencibles United 2-0 in Auckland while Ngaruawahia had a hero in Neil Mouncher as they tipped out Eastern Suburbs at home on penalties.
Unfortunately, Claudelands Rovers failed to make it a Waikato treble when they lost 2-0 to Oratia in Auckland.
Mouncher not only saved three penalties in the shootout but scored one himself as Ngaruawahia won 6-5 on spot-kicks after the game was scoreless at the end of extra time. Suburbs had earlier missed a penalty in the second half of regulation time.
Coach Jeff Coulshed rued his team’s inability to score but praised the defensive effort.
“It was great to win though.”
Wanderers won through two second-half strikes from player-coach Darren Fellowes but Fellowes reserved his praise for Mawston and his back four.
“It was a gutsy win with Paul Nixon and Andrew McAllister out injured. Fencibles really came at us in the last 10 minutes,” Fellowes said.
“It’s great for the region to have two sides through and we’ll be keen to hear the draw later today.”
In northern league division three matches, Matamata Swifts moved to a share of the lead with a 3-2 win over Albany while Huntly Thistle beat Waikato Unicol 3-1 and Tokoroa lost 4-1 against Hibiscus Coast.