Olympic 2
Three Kings Utd 1
Mikey Halikias was an 8-year-old mascot with a bowl haircut when he first appeared on television at a Chatham Cup final. That was 15 years ago at Napier when Wellington Olympic lost to Waitakere City.
Yesterday he held the famed cup aloft as captain of Olympic after they beat Three Kings United of Auckland in the final at North Harbour Stadium.
It was Olympic's first victory in the 86-year-old competition and completed an unbeaten season for the club in the Central League and the cup. Three Kings, formed from former cup winners Eden and Mt Roskill in 1997, suffered their first loss of the year.
When Mt Roskill won the cup in 1964, they scored after 90sec and Three Kings were almost as quick off the mark yesterday. Three minutes into the final striker Glen Eie found Sam Mathews on the edge of the penalty area and his clever back-heel was thumped home by Luiz Del Monte.
They could well have been two up midway through the half when Stuart Hogg was clean through but squandered the chance with a misdirected pass.
Olympic levelled the score in the 29th minute when Miroslav Malivuk leapt athletically to nod down a right-wing corner through a packed defence.
The decider came in the 75th minute. George Barbarouses was nudged aside by defender Hugo Littlejohn and referee Jamie Cross awarded a penalty, which was expertly converted by Raffaele de Gregorio.
De Gregorio was an influential figure throughout the game, prompting from the midfield and, particularly in the first half, setting Malivuk and Jimmy Haidakis free to torment the Three Kings defence.
The Aucklanders suffered an early setback when Jacob Mathews, one of three brothers in the starting lineup, limped off after eight minutes with a leg injury. Brother Joel was the strength of a defence that shut down the Wellingtonians for much of the second half.
Up front they struggled after Eie went off soon after the break. Closest was a shot from Del Monte just wide with goalkeeper Nicolas Van Hattum grasping air.
"I'm ecstatic," said Halikias after the final whistle. "We've been building towards this for three years and we've built up a good base with players playing for each other.
"We were disappointed when we didn't win the Central League but at the end of the day this is a national trophy and those don't come to Olympic very often."
Three Kings coach Paul Marshall conceded that his team were not at their best. "It's a disappointment, but we've had a great season and we've still got a big league game to play."
The women's knockout final saw defending champions Lynn Avon United beat Claudelands Rovers 5-1 to take their ninth trophy in the 16 years of the competition. Lynn Avon led 4-0 at halftime with Football Fern Amber Hearn, back from playing professionally in Canada, netting twice.
The second half was much more even and Claudelands fully deserved their consolation goal from Jackie Pretswell.
