2012 Chatham Cup Final

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Six-Shootin' Central Mark Golden Jubilee In Style

by Jeremy Ruane

Central United scored an emphatic 6-1 victory over Lower Hutt City at Newtown Park on August 26 to claim their fifth ASB Chatham Cup in style, and cap off their Golden Jubilee celebrations with the "Holy Grail" of New Zealand club football.

City's youngsters showed their much-vaunted opponents a bit of cheek in the opening ten minutes, with captain Hamish Watson and Hamish Price both threatening to give the vocal locals among the 2,258-strong crowd even more to shout about.

Class will out, however, and Central began to show theirs in the twelfth minute. Jason Hicks and David Mulligan - United's midfield duo was outstanding throughout - combined to present Emiliano Tade, later named winner of the Jack Batty Memorial Trophy, with his first shooting chance from twenty yards.

That effort fizzed wide of the post, while six minutes later, a Hicks corner was headed narrowly past his own post by Caleb Duncan. The resulting corner was to have disastrous consequences for City, with Hicks picking out the head of United captain Ivan Vicelich.

The most capped All White in history thundered a header towards the target, forcing Steve Bayard to tip the ball onto the crossbar. It dropped down to the feet of Tade, who, from point-blank range, didn't miss.

The goal clearly rattled the goalkeeper, who only narrowly avoided gifting Tade a goal two minutes later when the striker all but caught him in possession just inside the penalty area.

Bayard was still jittery when a foul on Paul Urlovic just outside the penalty area presented David Mulligan with the sort of free-kick scoring opportunity he has made his own - an "up-and-downer" over the defensive wall and just under the bar.

Sure enough, that's exactly what he contrived - an exquisite strike well worthy of gracing such a prestigious occasion as New Zealand's showpiece club football fixture.

It all but wrapped up the destiny of the Cup, too - even the most eternal optimist among Lower Hutt's supporters would have been hard-pressed to see their side coming back from being two goals down against a side boasting players with a pedigree the City youngsters can only dream about at this stage of their footballing development.

And so it proved, although the locals continued to give Central the odd cause for concern. Watson was denied a goal by the offside flag two minutes after United had doubled their lead, before a couple of injury breaks briefly disrupted the flow of the game.

Once back in harness, Central started going through their repertoire of free-flowing moves. Vicelich and Tade combined to supply overlapping fullback Takuya Iwata, who raced on before firing in a low cross intended for Urlovic. Central's Cup talisman - this was his fifth winners' medal - was only thwarted by Duncan's despairing tackle.

But Central weren't to be denied the win they coveted, although City thrice went close to halving the deficit before the half-time whistle. Jacob Spoonley smothered a Tobias Bertsch shot in the 35th minute after Watson and Jarrod Smith had set him up, while a 44th minute effort from the last-mentioned found the midriff of United's goalkeeper, not the netting either side of him.

City's best chance, however, came four minutes before the interval. Watson's surging run to the edge of the penalty area was curtailed by Jacob Hall's timely tackle, but the resulting clearance only went as far as Taban Makoii, who deftly evaded a couple of challenges before lashing a shot towards Spoonley's near post, as the 'keeper began to dive in anticipation of a cross towards the far upright.

Only a reflex save by the 'keeper prevented City from celebrating the goal they sought. By the time they next threatened, the game had long since concluded as a contest.

Central's initial response to this close call saw Mulligan go desperately close with another free-kick. Then after Tade had again forced Bayard to clear hurriedly from the edge of his penalty area, United delivered the coup de grace on the stroke of half-time.

Mulligan latched onto the ball in midfield and slipped it into Tade's stride. He held the ball up well before it rolled into the stride of Daniel Koprivcic, whose goal-bound drive took a wicked deflection to leave Bayard completely wrong-footed as it flew into the opposite corner he was attempting to cover.

Three and easy at half-time, Central proceeded to dictate terms from the outset in the second spell, but not before Watson had pounced on a stray pass from Mulligan and lashed a shot on the run past the post.

It served to spark United's competitive edge again, and in the 56th minute, Tade followed up some nimble-footedness with a jinking run and low cross which zoomed across the face of goal, with no-one in a yellow-and-white-striped shirt on hand to turn the ball home.

A minute later, Vicelich picked out substitute Adam Dickinson with a peach of a pass which the newcomer directed towards Tade with a driven cross. The striker controlled the ball neatly, then undid all his good work by blazing the ball over the bar.

Tade was then denied another chance to increase Central's advantage when Koprivcic, having stripped City substitute Taylor Schrijvers of possession and raced to the by-line, pulled the ball back behind his front-running team-mate.

Duncan cleared the danger for a corner, but it was the worst thing he could have done. For City's defending of this particular set-piece was awful, with Vicelich virtually unchallenged in heading home Hick's delivery from six yards - 4-0, with thirty minutes still to play.

Cue more Central party-pieces, Tade releasing Dickinson with a gem of a pass which the Scouser took on in his stride before battering a shot towards

the bottom far corner. Bayard somehow kept the ball out with his legs, while fine defending by Bertsch thwarted Tade on the edge of City's penalty area in the 67th minute, as Central laid siege to their beleaguered opponents' goal.

They didn't have long to wait for a fifth goal - four minutes, in fact. Dickinson went on manoeuvres in the City penalty area, worming his way to the goal-line despite the persistence of Andrew Coad, who stuck grimly to the task of endeavouring to dispossess the striker.

Dickinson denied him that pleasure, and from the by-line clipped a delightful cross to the far post which the in-rushing figure of Koprivcic gleefully headed home - his second goal of the game.

That strike prompted Central to ease off the throttle and coast through the remainder of the match, until City began to press in search of a consolation goal in the dying stages. Hall stepped in to thwart Watson in the 84th minute, after Price and substitute Cam Lidstone had teamed up, prompting Central to produce a response which was simply scrumptious in its quality.

Half-time substitute Stuart Hogg was denied a goal by the offside flag seconds before Hicks sprayed the ball across the pitch to Tade, who deftly touched the ball down to Central's co-captain.

Dashing around the duo was another substitute, Kris Carpenter, and his overlapping run from fullback was rewarded by Hogg's inch-perfect stride into his path. The youngster strode onto the ball and whipped in a first-time cross which Dickinson dummied, aware that Hicks was storming up behind him.

Without breaking stride, the midfielder hammered a devastating drive into the top near corner of the net from the edge of the penalty area, capping off the move he started in stunning fashion four minutes from time.

6-0 to Central - could they possibly set a Cup Final record in the time which remained? First-time finalists City were determined not to appear in the history books with that ignominious footnote alongside their name, so went all out for a consolation goal to at least give the locals something to cheer about.

Bertsch lashed a shot straight at Spoonley after wriggling through United's rearguard, then looked on as Watson thundered a twenty-yarder inches over Central's crossbar. But with virtually the last kick of the game, Price finally gave City's fans the goal they sought with a thumping twenty-five yarder in stoppage time to bring about the final 6-1 scoreline, which sparked off great celebrations amongst Central's fans.

Central: Spoonley; Dale (Carpenter, 74), Hall, Vicelich, Iwata; Hicks, Mulligan, Koprivcic, Riera (Hogg, 46); Urlovic (Dickinson, 45), Tade

Lower Hutt: Bayard; Pereyra, K. Schrijvers (T. Schrijvers, 47), Duncan (booked, 38), Coad; Smith (booked, 36) (Imray, 72), Price, Bertsch, Hall-Jones; Watson, Makoii (Lidstone, 46)

Referee: Matt Conger

Chatham Cup