Napier City Rovers into Chatham Cup quarter-finals for first time in five years

Napier City Rovers have made the quarterfinals of the Chatham Cup for the first time since winning football’s national knockout showpiece in 2019.

Sweden-born Oscar Faulds scored the two second-half goals to win 2-1 after the visitors led 1-0 at halftime through an early goal by former Napier player Andrew Bevin.

Former Napier City Rovers player Andrew Bevin (centre) after putting Miramar Rangers up 1-0 in the first half of the fourth-round Chatham Cup tie at Bluewater Stadium, Napier, on Sunday. He’s congratulated by teammate Nicolas Bobadilla (No 20) but less can be said of Rovers defender James Hoyle (left), But it was all smiles later as the Napier side came back to win 2-1. Photo / Paul Taylor

There was a particularly big input from central midfielder Sam Lack, who was instrumental in making the breaks and pushing forward as the Rovers fought their way back into the game and claimed the victory.

The five-time cup-winners’ victory came after three years of scoreless fourth-round exits, beaten 3-0 last year by Wellington club Waterside Karori, 4-0 by Wellington Olympic in 2022, and 3-0 by Porirua club Western Suburbs in 2021. There was no Chatham Cup competition in 2020.

The draw for the quarter-finals is to be made this week.

Results of weekend games were: Cambridge 1 Auckland City 4, Melville Utd 0 Hibiscus Coast 1, Manurewa 3 Onehunga-Māngere United 2, Onehunga-Māngere United 2, Western Springs 3 Birkenhead Utd 3 (Birkenhead Utd 6-5 on penalties), Wellington Olympic 8 Stop Out 0, Napier City Rovers 2 Miramar Rangers 1, Ferrymead Bays 3 Coastal Spirit 5, Otago University 3 Dunedin City Royals 2.

There were no Hawke’s Bay teams in the Kate Sheppard Cup national women’s knockout this year.

Doug Laing is a senior reporter based in Napier with Hawke’s Bay Today and has 51 years of journalism experience, 40 of them in Hawke’s Bay, in news gathering, including breaking news, sports, local events, issues, and personalities.