Football: Rovers play Napier Marist's cup assailants Western Suburbs next

Blues midfielder Chris McIvor (right) congratulates Ross Willox (No 18) for the opening goal against Olympic as Matt Bruin approves in Napier yesterday. Photo / Warren Buckland

If you ask coach Bill Robertson, relief isn't a word that pops in his head when describing Napier City Rovers' nail-biting victory in the Chatham Cup match in Napier. But it's fair to say some fans counting down the seconds to referee Martin Roil's final whistle probably experienced that emotion.

Therein lies the nature of the country's most elite knockout soccer tournament, which has a tendency to bring out the animal in most teams after the Conroy Removals-sponsored Rovers pipped Wellington Olympic 2-1 at Bluewater Stadium Park Island.

The upshot of it all was the Fergus Neil-captained Blues should have put the game to bed in the first half but the visitors, down 2-0, came out firing after the halftime pep talk with coach Stu Jacobs.

From Robertson's perspective, his men were put under a little bit of pressure and they showed resilience and resolve in defence to assert dominance over the entire game.

"We could have been five or six-nil up at halftime and probably deserved to be so," he said.

"On another day Angus [Kilkolly] would have slotted those chances and buried them at halftime."

Robertson was pleased his players' attitude and performance, believing they deserved to be in the first round.

Ross Willox scored from Neil freekick in the fifth minute, nodding it past Olympic goalkeeper Scott Basalaj.

Having a blinder, right-midfielder Willox then became provider, threading a pass to Kilkolly for a 2-0 lead in the 32nd minute.

Kilkolly could have dented Olympic's confidence further had he been unselfish in the 48th minute, trying to shoot for goal past two defenders when he had vice-captain Joshua Stevenson on his left with an open look at the top of the box.

That duffed chance resulted in Olympic striker Sam Blackburn scoring at the other end the next minute as the Greeks got their tails up.

A grinning Robertson stood up for the team's top forager who has scored 23 times, including three cup goals so far this winter.

"Obviously players around him want him to fit them in as well but we've got the result and it's a good win for us with five wins on the bounce and six unbeaten so all the boys are working hard and performing well," he said, suspecting it was an issue the players would resolve themselves on the park.

Neil and fellow defender James Hoyle also stood out.

Jacobs said Olympic could have been written off in the first 45 minutes.

"In the first half their movement, place going forward and their directness were more than a mental shift and wasn't anything technical.

"But in fairness to the boys, they came back well in the second half and could have probably come with something with all those chances we had."

Jacobs said from where they were sitting Olympic still weren't getting the rub of the green.

"I thought we looked a bit leggy in the first half but we just got caught with some good ball movement at the top and the directness with the way they play so we weren't switched on enough to cope with that."

No doubt, the Rovers resume their league campaign away against Western Suburbs this Saturday after losing 2-1 to the Wellingtonians here on April 9.

They will be without Kilkolly who will be serving a match ban for collecting his fifth yellow card yesterday, which he could have avoided after getting lippy with the referee following a strong challenge.

NZ Football will reveal the draws for the next round from midday tomorrow.

■ Alexander Electric Napier Marist's fairytale run in the cup ended with a 7-1 flogging away against Western Suburbs yesterday.

Mitchell Dick pulled one back for the visitors in the 70th minute after they were 3-0 behind at halftime but coach Jamie Dunning would be pleased his youthful brigade got a taste of what it was like to play a tier above the Lotto Federation League.