Soccer: Deluge dampens drama in Chatham Cup

Heavy downpours around the country did their best to dampen the drama of the Chatham Cup today.

Heavy downpours around the country did their best to dampen the drama of the Chatham Cup today forcing four of the 16 ties to be abandoned and replayed before the fourth round in two weeks time.

After Waikato clubs claimed three places in the last 16 for the first time in the competition's 90 year history yesterday, (sat) the weather became the story in nearly all of today's seven fixtures.

Caversham's much anticipated derby against local rival Dunedin Technical was the first casualty followed by Nelson College's match against Waimak United with the visitors leading 2-0.

Glenfield Rovers, who had earlier lost home advantage when their game was moved to a neutral ground, were trailing Birkenhead United 3-0 early in the second half when their match was abandoned and even Ellerslie's artificial turf was unplayable by halftime where they were locked 1-1 with Waitakere City.

Last year's finalists Lower Hutt City were taken to extra time by underdogs Waterside Karori and despite playing the final 47 of the match's 120 minutes with ten men they were able to find a 108th minute winner through Andrew Coad at a sodden Bell Park.

Over in Tawa, Palmerston North Marist continued their free scoring run with a 3-0 victory over the hosts that included Tom Mosquera's seventh goal in his last three Chatham Cup games.

Joining Marist in tomorrow's (monday) fourth round draw are former champions Wairarapa United who edged Napier City Rovers 2-1 in Hawke's Bay in a replay of the 2011 final.

Moments after the restart, Rovers' Harley Rodeka cancelled out Seule Soromon's first half strike for Wairarapa but Aaron Spierling's 59th minute goal proved decisive for the visitors.

On Saturday night, there was late drama in an evening kickoff in Wellington as Island Bay United were within minutes of claiming an upset only to succumb to two comebacks from Wellington Olympic and eventually go out 5-4 in a penalty shootout.

Barry Lewis gave away the 30th minute penalty that allowed Alex Palezevic to open the scoring only to redeem himself with Olympic's first equaliser in the 90th minute.

James Wypych put the underdogs back in front two minutes in extra time but Olympic drew level again this time through a 99th minute James O'Connor penalty.

The goalkeepers shone in the penalty shootout with Olympic's James McPeake making two legitimate saves - and another which was retaken and missed - to book his team's progression.

Waikato's football community are celebrating a unique achievement for the region after Hamilton Wanderers, Melville United and Ngaruawahia United all won their third round ties on Saturday against South Auckland opposition.

Wanderers and Ngaruawahia both had relatively comfortable wins but when Melville striker Jordan MacCarter was sent off in extra time it looked odds on that Papatoetoe would stop the trend.

The visitors had earlier taken a 19th minute lead through Daniel Billot which was cancelled out by Melville's Jama Boss 13 minutes into the second spell, but seven minutes from the end of extra-time Tewi Te Pou converted a penalty for the ten man home side to complete a groundbreaking day for the region.

Across town, Northern Premier League challengers Wanderers struggled in a scoreless first half against second division Mangere United but burst into life after the break thanks to a Mark Jones hat trick and two goals to Michael Built in their 5-0 victory.

Travelling in the other direction, Ngaruawahia scored both their goals in the first half to beat Onehunga Mangere United 2-0 with well-taken efforts from Tim Kautai and Frederico Marquez earning the club a spot in Monday's fourth round draw.

A four goal haul to Damien Foster, which included a first half hat-trick, led Roslyn Wakari to a 8-1 mauling over Northern in Dunedin, while in Christchurch Danny Boys netted a goal in each half as Cashmere Technical beat Ferrymead Bays 2-0 in the day's other South Island fixture.

Bay Olympic were too good for East Coast Bays in a heavyweight clash in Auckland, running away with a 5-1 win, while Onehunga Sports won 4-1 at Fencibles and Manurewa edged Three Kings United 2-1.

The draw for the fourth round of the ASB Chatham Cup will be aired on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter at 2pm tomorrow.