Napier City Rovers player Karan Mandair (left) will be pivotal with fellow centre midfielders in ensuring Wairarapa United don't gain any ascendancy today. Photo / File
Napier City Rovers player Karan Mandair (left) will be pivotal with fellow centre midfielders in ensuring Wairarapa United don't gain any ascendancy today. Photo / File
Seldom does the thrill of a champagne end to a season come without a niggling feeling that Sod's Law may come into play.
Thirsty Whale Napier City Rovers won't be entertaining any such thoughts and, needless to say, it'll be a cruel way to end the final round 18 of the Ultra Football Central League season when they play against Wairarapa United in Napier today.
That's because the Bill Robertson and Stu James-coached Blues have done enough to already etch their names on the silverware for the third time.
All the James Hoyle-captained hosts need is a lousy draw although a victory is what will be embedded in the mind's eye from the time the game kicks off at Bluewater Stadium, Park Island, from 2.30pm.
How hard can it be for the club side who have won Central League crowns in 2012 and 2015?
With just two losses, the Rovers have won 14 games, drawn one for 43 points. They have amassed 56 goals and conceded 24.
If travelling to the capital city and its surrounds is anything to go by, the top contenders should already be crowned undisputed champions because it's no mean feat to do that every other weekend and top the table.
However, defending champions Advanced Electrical Western Suburbs are three points adrift in second place and have won two fewer games, drawn four and lost only one.
But the Declan Edge-coached Suburbs, who have matched the Blues on goals scored and conceded fewer (14) for a better goal difference, host last-placed Building King Havelock North Wanderers at Endeavour Park, Wellington, at the same time as league organisers aimed to finish the season at relatively the same time, on the same day today.
The academy boys will be clinical, albeit coming under Sod's Law as well, and hoping the Rovers trip despite clinging to the top rung of the ladder for a lion's share of the season.
Edge's boys, the yardstick of raising homegrown talent in the beautiful brand of the game, will rue leaving their fate in the hands of another campaigner.
Former Blues captain Danny Wilson, with trophy, shows the joy of winning the Central League title for the second time at Park Island, Napier, in 2015. Will it be the third? Photo / File
How many of the teams from the Wellington-based league will be in the Blues corner is anyone's guess but, without doubt, it can't be a very comfortable feeling throwing a party and then sitting back to watch the gatecrashers take over the floor.
Neither will it be lost on the Napier club they had an OK Corral-type showdown against Wairarapa at the Masterton Memorial Park turf on May 26.
They came away humming 7-5 that day but that offers a snapshot of what the visitors are capable of with their spread of ISPS Handa Premiership (national league) quality players.
The likes of Robertson and fellow veterans, defender Danny Wilson, vice-captain Joshua Stevenson and injured Fergus Neil, know only too well how the Phil Keinzley-coached green army crushed their Chatham Cup hopes in the final in Palmerston North in August 2011.
On the flip side, it's an exciting time for homegrown newbies — such as Karan Mandair, Bjorn Christensen, Ethan Ladd and Kaeden Atkins — to savour glory so early in their careers.
"It's gone really quick this season," says Mandair who is a cog in the wheel of the Blues' engine room, showing a level of composure well beyond his 18 years after making his debut with the flagship team two years ago.
That equates to a good think for the Year 13 Lindisfarne College pupil because he has been enjoying his time in the premier winter league after making his debut with the Thirsty Whale Hawke's Bay United last summer.
Mandair is quietly confident that when everything falls into place this afternoon he'll be joining in with the expectant Blues faithful to celebrate his maiden glory at the elite level.
He believes the culture of everyone getting on with each other has been the secret to their success.
For someone who only played three games towards the end of last winter, the teenager recognises the difference in the mindset of the two squads — this season has better quality players.
The training this week has been intense with no one wanting the unthinkable to happen.
"They [Wairarapa] have quite a few good individuals but we'll stick to our game plan," he says although giving former Wellington Phoenix English import Paul Ifill time and space at the business end can be a fatal mistake.
Ifill steps up when the pressure is on and demands his troops, including the captain, to follow suit.
The visitors will have developed an allergy to travelling here because they unceremoniously crashed 6-2 to the Chris Greatholder-coached villagers at Guthrie Park, Hastings, on April 25.
Keinzley has tweaked and bolstered that team since then and that was evident in their loss to the Rovers in Masterton.
Wairarapa always carry an air of unpredictability so their eighth position on the table with six wins, nine losses and two stalemates will mean little because they will treat it like a knockout match to end their what-if campaign.
Taking ownership is imperative, he says, because the Blues don't expect relegation-bound Havelock North will be able to pull off a colossal upset.
"It's all or nothing," he says as a squally southerly takes hold of the Bay today after two balmy 18C days.
Napier City Rovers, with captain Bill Robertson holding the trophy, celebrate their Central League victory in Napier in 2012. Photo / File
Few will bet against the proud Napier club adding the crown to their illustrious past. The four-time Chatham Cup winners (1985, 1993, 2000, 2002) have won the National League title just as many times (1989, 1993, 1998, 2000) before the Central League replaced it.
Robertson had nominated Mandair as a prospect for the New Zealand squad to compete at the Fifa Under-20 World Cup in Poland, from May 23 to June 15 next year, but the player didn't even receive an invite for trials.
"I can still make it to the world cup in the qualifying rounds so there's still a chance to show that in the national league," he says as the age-group national team have been competing in Tahiti this week.
He is harbouring hopes Bay United coach Brett Angell will have him in his equation when he announces his 2018-19 squad for the premiership.
■ A testimonial game for former Rovers defender Phil Lowrey will be played at Park Island from midday tomorrow.
Lowrey played for Havelock North Wanderers before transferring to the Rovers club.
