As predicted, hosts Napier City didn't have things their way and failed to make it out of their pool B.
The Phil Dol-coached Blues won only two matches in their pool games.
They beat Three Kings 3-1 in their opener on Saturday morning but lost by the same margin to Waterside Karori before bowing out with a commendable 1-0 to top qualifiers Western Springs.
Yesterday Napier City lost 1-0 to Bay Olympic in the morning but eked out a 3-2 victory over Wellington side Stop Out in the afternoon.
Guest player Billy Jones, of Auckland, finished with four goals, including a hattrick against Stop Out, in the tourney as the top scorer for the hosts despite Dol using him as a defensive midfielder.
In the match against Stop Out, Jones drew first blood early for the Blues when the opposition goalkeeper fouled Shae Bauerfiend in the 18m box.
Kurtis Maney had found the net again a few minutes later but the referee rightly disallowed it because the player had pushed a defender in the back to gain ascendancy.
In the 19th minute, Napier City returned the favour when a defender hacked down Stop Out striker Danny Degans who got up to coolly slot the ball from the penalty spot past goalkeeper PJ Goodlett to make 1-1.
But in the 23rd minute Degans struck again to put the Wellingtonians 2-1 up from a crisp worm burner from about 25m out.
However, their celebrations were in vain because not long after second resumed Jones equalised 2-2.
The Logan Bensemann-captained Blues had sewn up the game when Jones deftly headed in a cornerkick from Aiden Ivares-Pratt in the dying minutes.
A philosophical Dol said the tourney was ideal exposure for his troops as they didn't have much experience at that level and didn't have ample time to train as a unit due to other representative commitments.
"We had a very tough pool against big clubs who have youth academies," he said in his first year at the helm as coach after he was manager last year.
Dol said that when taking into account their narrow losses to pool opponents the story could have been different had they found themselves on the right side of the ledger.
In the lower-tier satellite section, Napier Marist beat Waiuku 2-0 and Pukekohe 2-1 as well as drawing 1-1 against Beachlands but didn't make the playoffs.
Porthill United managed only one victory, 2-0 over Kapiti Coast, and like Marist failed to get out of their pool.
About 1500 people have descended at Park Island and are relishing the balmy weather.
