Technical Trounce City At Their Own Game by Jeremy Ruane The Chatham Cup will spend its first summer in the South Island for the first time since 1991 this close-season, after Dunedin Technical beat Waitakere City at their own game, and handed out a 4-0 trouncing into the bargain to clinch the trophy for the first time ever. Beaten finalists in 1964 and last year at North Harbour Stadium, Roger Brooks’ side had, only last week, been beaten in extra-time of the National Club Championship Final at the same venue. They were determined to make it a case of "third time lucky", and did so with interest aplenty, completely outfoxing City in the process. The early exchanges were, as anticipated, somewhat solid, as both teams flexed their muscles in an attempt to gain dominance. Honours were fairly even in this regard, although referee Ian Walker’s whistle was heard with great frequency during this period, both teams testing the Laws of the Game to their very limits at times. Once the dust had settled, and the teams got down to playing football, they turned on a cracking spectacle, with Dunedin’s Paul Hughes, and Waitakere’s Darren McClennan, both going close with rasping twenty-five yard drives in the thirteenth and eighteenth minutes respectively. Seconds after McClennan’s effort, Cameron Miller sent a shot sizzling past the upright, on receipt of Shane Gillies’ measured crossfield ball from deep. Seven minutes later, Terry Torrens sent Liam Mulrooney away down the left with a peach of a pass to beat the offside trap. His cross targeted Nik Viljoen, but Jeremy Seales did enough to put the striker off, Hughes completing the clearance, which sparked a Technical raid down the left, led by the lively Aaron Burgess. It resulted in a 27th minute corner, which David Johnston delivered to the far post. Graham Marshall, a key absentee ten days ago, proved how valuable he is to Technical’s cause with an unchallenged bullet-like header, which proved too powerful for the capable hands of Bruce Plunkett to deal with. Before Darren Wise - City’s best defender throughout - could clear off the line, the ball had fully crossed the paintwork, and Technical’s fans, including many of the neutrals in the 2000-strong audience, went ballistic. If they went ballistic at taking the lead, you can imagine how they reacted three minutes later, when Dunedin doubled their advantage. Burgess’ fine run down the left saw him get to the by-line before pulling the ball back for Jason Tee, who managed to sweep the ball past Plunkett despite being all but on his rump when shooting. At 2-0, City were facing an uphill battle, one they should have cut into within minutes. But Paul Stephens, after working a fine opening with McClennan, failed to convert "The Mac Attack"’s inviting low cross in the 34th minute, with the goal at his mercy. Right on half-time, a low cross from Torrens sped across the face of Matt Maingay’s goal, but Viljoen met it on too tight an angle to make anything out of the opening. The source of this opening came close to giving City a lifeline six minutes into the second spell, stretching out to connect with a low Stephens cross from the left. But Dunedin were able to scramble clear on this occasion, and five minutes later, killed the game off as a contest. A delicious pass from Jonathan Smith - he produced a couple of gems in this encounter with his old club - sped into the danger zone, and City were slow in reacting to the threat it posed. Not so, Justin Flaws, who darted in from the right and got a vital touch which left Plunkett beaten all ends up, and left with the task of fishing the ball out of his net for a third time in the final. Now chasing the game, City took off their principle playmaker, Torrens, in favour of Hamish Carmody. While a courageous move by coach Steve Cain, in this writer’s opinion, it effectively left the Auckland finalists without a player capable of providing the openings which the likes of McClennan, Stephens and Carmody usually thrive upon. Instead, Waitakere were reduced to "hit and hope" style tactics, which, on some occasions, would prove effective. But in the wily Marshall and the ever-improving Seales, Technical had two defenders well capable of containing such attacks, and there was very little which this pair, along with Maingay, didn’t adequately cope with in the final half-hour. City did have some moments of hope in this time, however, Viljoen, Stephens and Miller all going close to altering the scoreline. But the incident which probably told the Chatham Cup winners in 1994, 1995 and 1996 that they would not be adding the final year of the twentieth century to their personal roll of honour in the competition came about in the 62nd minute. Then, Maingay saved bravely at the feet of the rampaging McClennan, the ball ricocheting off the striker’s shins for a goal-kick. On another day, the rebound would have favoured Waitakere, but tonight was Dunedin Technical’s night. As confirmed in the 67th minute by a glorious finish from the winner of the Jack Batty Memorial Trophy, Burgess. The goal came out of nothing, but the striker’s exquisite finish - a volleyed lob over Plunkett into the far corner of the net from some fifteen yards on the angle - was worth the admission price in itself. It was a little gem with which to round off the scoring. Not that Dunedin couldn’t have added to their tally - Burgess himself had a couple of great chances to do so, in the 73rd and 80th minutes. On both occasions, after pursuing through balls from Smith, he found himself one-on-one with Plunkett. The goalkeeper beat his first effort to safety, but was beaten by the striker’s second attempt. Fortunately for City, it beat the far post as well. Just before the finish, a Technical counter-attack saw the Dunedin side four-on-two, including Plunkett. Tee’s crossfield pass was made to measure for the galloping Marshall, in this instance, but the strength in his legs ran out on him as he looked to conclude the scoring he had started just over an hour beforehand. It mattered not to Dunedin Technical, who, moments later, were celebrating their first Chatham Cup triumph in their eighty-year history - and how! Dunedin:     Maingay; Wilson, Marshall, Seales, Hughes; Flaws (M. Smith, 83), Bell (booked, 59) (Melville, 87), J. Smith, Johnston; Burgess (Rowe, 87), Tee Waitakere:     Plunkett; Wise, Dawkins (booked, 64), Gillies; Mulrooney (Woodhams, 46), Miller, Torrens (Carmody, 59), Young (booked, 90); McClennan (booked, 58), Viljoen (booked, 28) (Campbell, 73), Stephens Referee:     Ian Walker (Canterbury) Scoring:     G. Marshall (27), J. Tee (30), J. Flaws (56), A. Burgess (67)