Napier City Rovers unleashed scoreboard pain on former goalkeeper in National League opener. Video / Neil Reid
Forward Harry Mason tells Neil Reid that Napier City Rovers aren’t just in the National League to make up the numbers.
Napier City Rovers launched their 2024 National League campaign on fire.
And as the Bill Robertson-coached team prepares to face Auckland side Eastern Suburbs in round two action on Sunday, forward Harry Mason says the side have to aim big in their third successive appearance in New Zealand Football’s top-tier competition.
The side kicked off the National League with a rampant 4-0 win over fellow Auckland opposition Western Springs at Bluewater Stadium.
The win was arguably their best all-round 90-minute team performance of 2024, coming off the back of 18 earlier Central League matches and a Chatham Cup run that saw them reach the quarterfinals for the first time since 2019.
Napier City Rovers are the only team in the 10-club National League not from Auckland, Wellington or Christchurch.
Before the league started, the chatter on Kiwi football fan forums largely discounted their chances.
Mason – who played in the earlier 2022 and 2023 campaigns – said he and his teammates knew what they were capable of and were looking forward to doing their talking on the pitch.
“They’re obviously all hard games, every team in the National League is very good,” he said.
Harry Mason, second from left, soaks up the atmosphere in the Napier City Rovers dressing room before his side's 4-0 win over Western Springs. Photo / Neil Reid
“But there’s no one we’re looking at and thinking like we don’t have a chance, we can’t beat them.
“We’re going to go into every game thinking that we can win. And that will be our aim every game to win, especially at home.”
The nature of Sunday’s 4-0 win should be a wake-up call to those who think Napier City Rovers will struggle against some of the cashed-up clubs in the National League.
Kieran Richards, back to camera, hugs Adam Hewson after Hewson scored a cracking first half goal in Napier City Rovers' 4-0 win over Western Springs. Photo / Neil Reid
Robertson had to do some serious rejigging to his side’s attack.
While he welcomed back goal-scoring sensation Oscar Faulds into his starting 11 after the Swedish-born Kiwi’s professional trials in Denmark and Sweden, fellow attackers Benjamin Stanley, Max Chretien and Jordan Annear were all sidelined with injury.
Adam Hewson and Kieran Richards were moved upfront as Robertson employed an aggressive press in a bid to put pressure on Western Springs and their style of playing the ball out from their own box.
The front three of Hewson, Richards and Faulds were outstanding, with the trio each scoring in the first half and making life a nightmare for Western Springs, and former Napier City Rovers, goalkeeper Oscar Mason.
Napier City Rovers forward Adam Hewson tries to cool down in his side's dressing room at halftime. Photo / Neil Reid
After leading 3-0 at the break, Hewson scored again in the second half to secure the outstanding 4-0 win.
Harry Mason – who was denied a late goal after an impressive save by his younger brother, Oscar – said there were plenty of reasons to be upbeat about his side’s hopes in the National League.
A strong work ethic runs through the team, something evident in the three night-time training sessions a week Robertson puts them through at Park Island.
The squad was also well-balanced and had a depth that was stronger than the past two years.
Western Springs goalkeeper Oscar Mason looking on frustratingly during his side's 4-0 loss to Napier City Rovers. Photo / Neil Reid
“The team we have this year is definitely an improvement on what we’ve had the last couple of years,” Harry Mason said.
“We’ve made the National League every year [and] the real aim for us is to do better than we have done in previous years. The objective is not just to be in the National League, but to really do well.”
Goalkeeper William Tonning – who made several cracking saves in keeping a clean sheet - was voted man of the match by Napier City Rovers fans on Sunday. Defender Matt Jones was voted the players’ player of the day.
Given the nature of the win – where Robertson’s players employed his smart game plan to perfection – everyone who got on the pitch in a blue shirt impressed.
All Whites coach Darren Bazeley talks to Napier City Rovers' goal-scoring sensation and Swedish-born Kiwi Oscar Faulds. Photo / Neil Reid
Among the crowd at Bluewater Stadium for the match was All Whites coach Darren Bazeley, who spent time talking to Faulds post-match.
Napier City Rovers finished eighth in the 2022 National League, then ninth last year.
Harry Mason said while the squads of those years were proud to have made it into the domestic top-tier, players who remained at Napier City Rovers from those campaigns knew they could have gone even better.
That was something that drove them this season.
“We feel like we left quite a few points out there and not only last year, but 2022 as well,” he said.
Oscar Faulds, left, had a happy homecoming during Napier City Rovers' 4-0 win over Western Springs at Bluewater Stadium. Photo / Neil Reid
“Hopefully, if we can turn some of those results around and get the job done, the higher we move up the National League. That’s what we’re trying to do.
“The goal is to push on even more than the last two.
“The players that are still here now that have been here in previous years . . . we know how good it is this year, how deep it is. We know what we are capable of and what we can achieve if we play to our full potential.”
Neil Reid is a Napier-based senior reporter who covers general news, features and sport. He joined the Herald in 2014 and has 30 years of newsroom experience.
