2013 Chatham Cup Final

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Cup Glory For Cashmere - After 65 Years

by Jeremy Ruane

Cashmere Technical stunned Waitakere City 3-1 in the ASB Chatham Cup Final at Christchurch's ASB Park on 15 September to bring the trophy back to the club for the first time since their predecessors, Christchurch Technical, won it way back in 1948.

Spurred on by a partisan 2,600-strong crowd, the local side enjoyed the ideal start when opening the scoring from the penalty spot in the sixth minute. City fullback Kodai Hayashi felled Julyan Collett in the area, prompting referee Nick Waldron to point to the spot, from where Danny Boys sent Eamon Goodin the wrong way.

Waitakere, who had initially threatened through Denver MacDonald, went close in the twelfth minute after Sam Redwood's free-kick was neatly controlled by Roy Krishna. He laid the ball off to Rory Turner, whose surge into the area was thwarted by Tom Schwartz's timely tackle.

Three minutes later, City drew level. With the sun behind him, newly capped All White Jake Butler drove a free-kick into the defensive wall, but reacted swiftly to the rebound, lashing a thunderous twenty-five yard volley beyond the flailing fingertips of Shaun Roberts, whose cause wasn't aided by the fact the sun rendered him largely unsighted.

1-1 then, but only for eight minutes, at which point Stu Kelly took advantage of a ricochet off him following an attempted clearance by Tim Myers. The striker surged into the penalty area before coolly slotting home beyond the diving figure of Goodin to restore Cashmere's advantage.

That strike stunned City, and a Cory Mitchell thirty-yarder just after the half-hour mark nearly gave the Auckland side a real mountain to climb - it cleared the crossbar by an ever-decreasing margin, the opportunity having been generated by Collett's inspired raid.

Krishna was largely well contained by the Cashmere defence, but every so often he would escape their clutches, such as in the 36th minute. His bursting run culminated in a pass to Turner, who picked out MacDonald. He held the ball up in the area before setting up Butler, whose low drive was blocked by Shawn O'Brien.

An at times rugged encounter saw referee Waldron brandish the yellow card on four occasions, all to Cashmere players, much to the crowd's ire. However, one of those yellows could easily have been red - Kelly can consider himself very fortunate to have remained on the park after he clattered into Redwood near the corner flag in the 41st minute.

City's response to this, two minutes later, rattled Cashmere - at least, their crossbar. MacDonald and Krishna combined to release Turner on the left, from where he cut inside past three opponents before unleashing a curling twenty-yarder which crashed off the woodwork to safety.

Turner squandered an even better opportunity nine minutes into the second spell, after City contrived the move of the match to open up Cashmere's defence. An interchange of passes between MacDonald, Butler and Krishna around the edge of

the area culminated in the last-mentioned slipping Turner through a gaping hole to leave him one-on-one with Roberts.

What happened next … one suspects Turner will be thinking about what might have been throughout the summer, had he not adopted the "America's Cup lean" and skied his curling effort over the bar, and instead targeted the 'postage stamps', the areas of the goal only the very best goalkeepers manage to reach when diving to save goalbound shots.

After Redwood had gone close with a headed effort from an Imraan Shah free-kick, Goodin was guilty of some awful goalkeeping on the hour, failing to take responsibility for a driven Jack Caunter cross into his six-yard box.

Myers cleared the initial threat, but Mitchell drove the ball back into the box, prompting strong calls for a penalty as a City defender appeared to handle the sphere. Referee Waldron indicated it struck the chest, however, much to the local fans' disappointment.

Goodin parried from Mitchell soon after, while twenty minutes from time, a blocked Butler drive fell perfectly for Shah to unleash a volley which Roberts parried then gathered before the incoming figure of Krishna could swoop on the loose ball.

The challenges were flying in thick and fast by now, with Waitakere's increasing urgency as they pursued an equaliser matched by the resolute defending of a Cashmere side which enjoyed the backing of the vocal locals, who cheered with no little irony on the handful of occasions referee Waldron afforded the Christchurch side the benefit of the doubt.

Cashmere threw on their substitutes in a bid to freshen things up in the final fifteen minutes, and it was to pay dividends at the death. Andrew Barton's driving run and cross, intended for Kelly, was well anticipated by Goodin six minutes from time, while after Roberts had grabbed the ball under intense pressure following Butler's stoppage time free-kick, a cleared Waitakere corner saw Cashmere spark a counter-attack.

Jamie Smith's raking angled ball forward, from deep inside his own half, found fellow substitute Dan Ede in yards of space on the left, with Goodin, who was miles out of goal, the only player standing between him and Chatham Cup glory.

A deft long-range lob … cue joy unconfined, as Cashmere clinched the Cup at the death to crown the career of retiring veteran Andy Pitman, the winner of the Jack Batty Memorial Trophy as Cup Final MVP.

Cashmere: Roberts; Terris, D. Schwartz, T. Schwartz (booked, 57), Boys; Collett (booked, 35) (Barton, 75), Mitchell, Pitman (booked, 65), Wortelboer, O'Brien (Ede, 81); Kelly (booked, 41) (Smith, 87)

Waitakere: Goodin; Caunter, Myers, Redwood, Hayashi; Chatterton, Shah (Fakasega, 81), Butler; MacDonald, Krishna, Turner

Referee: Nick Waldron

Chatham Cup