Football: Eastern Suburbs on verge of historic double

Chatham Cup football Tauranga Sports v Eastern Suburbs. Photo / George Novak

Eastern Suburbs AFC are one win away from completing the club's most successful season in over 50 years.

Suburbs face Napier City Rovers in the Chatham Cup final tomorrow and a win will help the Auckland club claim the Northern Premier League and Chatham Cup double for the first time since 1965.

It's been a remarkable 12 month turnaround for Suburbs who last year earned promotion to the Northern Premier League (NPL) and this season went on a 19-game winning streak to cruise to the title with four games to spare.

They have also navigated one of the Cup's most testing paths, defeating Western Springs, North Shore United, Tauranga City United, Cashmere Technical and Mangere United on course to the final.

Suburbs, who have won the Chatham Cup five times, are one of New Zealand's biggest and most prestigious clubs, but had under-achieved after they were relegated from the Northern Premier League in 2012.

But no one expected such a quick, steep ascent to glory across one season - except for new coach Malcolm McPherson.

"I took the job in November and was looking at what squad we had and who we needed to add to it because a few boys from previous seasons had gone to the US on scholarships, or moved overseas," said McPherson.

McPherson brought across four recruits from the UK; goalkeeper Simon Williams, midfielders Tom Shaw and Michael Bryant and striker Brandon Barnes.

"We also signed a few guys from overseas that were already living in New Zealand, that was a lucky coincidence really. We signed a Dutch lad and a Czech lad but they just showed up and we got really fortunate there."

But McPherson's key signing was Canadian Nathaniel Bowen, who joined after a stint playing for Waitakere United in the ASB premiership. Bowen was the standout striker of the NPL, scoring 24 goals in 20 games to clinch the Golden Boot award.

"Nate is really powerful, he has a really explosive burst of pace and is an excellent finisher. He's an all-round player and has a lot of good attributes about his game but his goal scoring stands out. Given half a chance he will find the back of the net more often than not.

"There's a lot of excitement around the club at the moment and the fact that we won the league is pretty cool for a lot of people, but some of them are absolutely delighted that we have made the Cup final as well. It has that really prestigious feel about it."

McPherson is aware of the challenge Napier face, a club that has mirrored their success in the Central League. Napier won the league by 10 points, have lost just one game all season and boast the two top strikers in the Central League, Angus Kilkolly and Ryan Tinsley who shared the Central League Golden Boot.

Napier, who have won the Cup four times, have also done it the hard way, playing away from home four straight times since their Round 2 win over Wellington's Stop Out, covering almost 2,500 kilometres.

"We felt it was a realistic target for ourselves to win the league and the Chatham Cup and now we're 90 minutes away from achieving that," said player-coach Bill Robertson.

"It's been a fantastic season already, there's a lot of hard work gone into it from the players and a lot of other people from within the club as well. It would be huge for us to round it up with completing the double and I think anything less than winning the game on the weekend would be a huge disappointment for us."