Captain Jim Hoyle says the team need to display more “quality” when attacking the opposition goal.
Three points on the road this weekend in Wellington a must as team seek qualification to the National League for a fourth successive season.
Napier City Rovers captain Jim Hoyle doesn’t mind how they come, but three Central League points is a must from his side’s road trip to Wellington this weekend.
Round five will see Napier City Rovers take on Island Bay United in the capital on Saturday afternoon.
Despite holding down third spot at the moment, the team have struggled to impress since their 3-2 opening-round win over Western Suburbs in Wellington.
The past three weeks has seen them being fortunate to hold on to a 1-0 win over bottom-placed Central League side North Wellington, fall 2-0 to competition leaders the Wellington Phoenix Reserves and then put in a largely disappointing showing last Sunday as they drew 1-1 with second-to-last-placed Upper Hutt City Football.
Napier City Rovers captain Jim Hoyle takes the ball forward during his side's 1-1 Central League draw with Upper Hutt City Football. Photo / Neil Reid
Hoyle said that given what the side wants to achieve this season, only one result would be acceptable against Island Bay United on the road on Saturday; a win.
“There’s absolutely no excuses now; we’ve got to get three points away at Island Bay,” he said.
“If it’s scrappy, if it’s with quality, it doesn’t matter [we just need to win]. We’re playing catch-up already early in the season, we’ve got big ambitions, so we have to go and win.”
Under their playing licence, the Wellington Phoenix Reserves are guaranteed one of those spots, regardless of where they finish. The other three top finishers will join them in the 11-team National League.
Napier City Rovers forward Max Chretien looks to control the ball during his side's 1-1 Central League draw with Upper Hutt City Football. Photo / Neil Reid
The Wellington Phoenix Reserves and Wellington Olympic are the early pace-setters of the league.
Napier City Rovers hold third, Waterside Karori have made the most of a kind draw to start the season to sit in fourth spot, while likely leading National League qualification rivals Miramar Rangers and Western Suburbs (who have both had tough draws for the opening month of the league) are in fifth and eighth spot respectively.
Napier City Rovers player Stephen Hoyle is crestfallen on the turf at Bluewater Stadium after his side's 1-1 Central League draw against Upper Hutt City Football. Photo / Neil Reid
The National League was a competition Napier City Rovers excelled in last year, finishing fourth in the top-tier league, missing the grand final by just two competition points.
But Hoyle is well aware that if his team are to qualify and then be contenders in New Zealand Football’s showpiece domestic league, they have to show a lot more than they did against Upper Hutt City Football, a side coached by former All White Rory Fallon.
Upper City Football Club coach and former All White Rory Fallon relaxes post-match at Bluewater Stadium. Photo / Neil Reid
“It’s frustrating,” Hoyle said after Sunday’s 1-1 draw. “That’s dropped points the last two weekends now.
“We’ve got some problems to solve on the training field and hopefully we can bounce back next week. The result is just frustrating to be honest, we controlled large parts of the game, but just not enough quality in front of goal and then we’ve conceded a goal.
“When you come up against teams like Upper City at home, you need to maximise points if you want to end up in National League. We’ve got some problem-solving to do.”
A dejected Napier City Rovers defender Matt Jones receives a consoling pat on the shoulder after Sunday's match. Photo / Neil Reid
One of the main work-ons is finishing. The side have scored just five goals in their opening four matches; three of those were in their first game of the season.
As yet no one has truly put their hand up to be the chief provider of the 29 goals forward Oscar Faulds – who is now playing professionally in Luxembourg – hammered home last season.
Napier City Rovers defender Stephen Hoyle (No 27) fires in his side's goal against Upper Hutt City Football. Photo / Neil Reid
That’s not been through a lack of trying.
“We’re definitely searching,” Hoyle said of the work ethic shown at training since February.
“On Thursday, we looked amazing in training. I thought we looked great, we had an idea and the game plan was right. But we just didn’t bring it on to the pitch; we just didn’t perform.
“We can talk about lads working hard, and the lads are an honest group.
Napier City Rovers players gather around Stephen Hoyle after scoring his side's goal. Photo / Neil Reid
“I think it’s just finding that quality in the final third [of the pitch]. We need to be scoring more than one goal to put these games to bed.”
Last Sunday’s result might not have been the one Napier City Rovers wanted – and their attack has been too often misfiring as a unit – but there were still positives to take away from the 1-1 draw.
The Hoyle brothers – Jim and older brother Stephen – and Matt Jones were outstanding in the defensive line.
Stephen Hoyle was also his side’s goal-scorer, firing in a shot after Upper Hutt City Football failed to clear a corner.
Upper Hutt City Football players celebrate their match-levelling goal. Photo / Neil Reid
Forward Max Chretien was heavily involved throughout his time on the pitch and was involved in several promising attacks. Alongside him, Cameron Emerson also got stuck in playing in a more attacking role and higher up the pitch than he did all of last season.
Liam Schofield was also outstanding in his first start of the season, providing plenty of spark from midfield, some quality distribution and a succession of well-directed corners that repeatedly troubled Upper Hutt’s defence.
Liam Schofield made his return to the Napier City Rovers line-up and impressed against Upper Hutt City Football. Photo / Neil Reid
Schofield – who has been at Napier City Rovers for the past eight seasons – is one of five overseas-born players who are classed as imports by New Zealand Football rules.
Just four can feature in a match-day squad, with Schofield coming in to replace Jordan Annear, who is battling a calf strain.
“We brought him in to try and control games which we’ve been missing,” Hoyle said.
“We’ve been missing someone to control games. That’s one thing that we’re working towards.”
Neil Reid is a Napier-based senior reporter who covers general news, features and sport. He joined the Herald in 2014 and has 33 years of newsroom experience.
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