Three Kings United v. Miramar Rangers, 30/08/09

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United Come From Behind To Reach Maiden Cup Final

by Jeremy Ruane

Three Kings United scored a come-from-behind 2-1 victory over Miramar Rangers in front of approximately 1500 fans at Keith Hay Park on August 30 to reach their maiden Chatham Cup Final.

It was a terrific triumph for Paul Marshall's Northern League First Division championship chasers, who found themselves up against the outgoing Central Regional League champions and a team with a fine pedigree at the business end of the season.

Rangers put that pedigree to good use against their hosts in the early stages of a compelling cup-tie, creating the first opening in the tenth minute. Jamie Farrington pinged the ball forward for Peter Halstead to chase, and he turned Jesse Van Kekem every which way en route to the penalty area.

But the defender, shortly to depart from the fray due to illness, stuck to his guns and prevented the player nicknamed “The Colonel” from getting a clean sight of goal on this occasion.

The ball was launched downfield by United goalkeeper Greg Walters, with Luiz Del Monte sending Daniel Finlay careering down the right flank at pace. His low cross, intended for Jacob Mathews, was prevented from reaching the speedy striker by a retreating Rangers defender, which allowed Dylan Hall to smother the ball and quell the threat.

It's something Walters wished he could have done in the seventeenth minute, when Miramar opened the scoring. Bryan Little and Andy Barron combined on the left, with the All White midfielder threading a pass through Three Kings rearguard which sent the whippet-like Dominic Rowe haring into the penalty area, from where he lashed the ball beyond Walters and into the net to the delight of the visiting faithful.

It was a setback which United struggled to cope with initially, and while they were still reeling from the blow, Halstead looked to double Miramar's advantage as a result of being allowed to run through unchallenged down the left. Walters parried his effort to safety.

United coach Paul Marshall withdrew the ailing Van Kekem from the fray, and Tavis Gravatt's arrival provided some solidity to the Three Kings rearguard, with Andre Sherard moving in alongside Hugo Littlejohn, who had a splendid game at the heart of the home team's defence.

From that platform, United began to get back into the contest, and after Del Monte had seen a shot saved by Hall, the home team were denied strong penalty claims in the 28th minute when Jacob Mathews was sent tumbling in the area by Farrington.

Referee Peter O'Leary wasn't having a bar of it, however, and Mathews looked to channel his frustration via appropriate means soon after, thundering a twenty yard piledriver narrowly past the far post on the half-hour.

Del Monte then released the speedster down the left four minutes later, but Miramar's rearguard forced him to check his run and play the ball back to Del Monte, who was up in support. The playmaker deftly evaded a challenge before curling one just past the far post from the edge of the penalty area.

These incidents occurred while an almighty downpour swept across the ground - easily one of the heaviest this writer has experienced while covering a football match. A similar drenching took place at this venue exactly two months ago, and on that occasion, Three Kings' National Women's Knockout Cup encounter with Lynn-Avon United was abandoned due to a waterlogged pitch.

Sure enough, the area of the pitch which prompted that deferment was swiftly saturated, and surface water added another factor to the equation, as well as making for some spectacular tackling opportunities - witness that Sherard produced to deny Rowe in the 42nd minute, a vital challenge which thwarted the speedster's progress down the right.

Little's resulting corner picked out Rowe, whose

header was tipped round the post by Walters. The pair clashed again seconds later, with Miramar furious at the outcome - instead of the penalty they sought, they saw their striker booked by FIFA U-20 World Cup Finals-bound referee O'Leary for diving.

The sight of Jacob Mathews departing the fray on the stroke of half-time following a challenge forced Marshall to turn to his bench once more, and fine-tune United`s tactics.

While you might miss the injured player's first ten yards if you blinked, his replacement, Glenn Eie, is a more cerebral operator, and, as the scorer of a hat-trick for Central United in the 2001 National Club Championship Grand Final against Miramar, someone the Wellingtonians would have preferred not to see coming back to haunt them eight years later.

Sure enough, Eie was in the thick of things from the start of the second half, as Three Kings came out all guns blazing in an effort to get back into the tie. He linked with Sam Mathews in the 47th minute, allowing the latter to play in twin brother Joel as he steamed down the right in support. A cross to the near post saw Eie arriving on cue, but he was unable to turn home the equaliser on this occasion.

Four minutes later, Finlay foraged down the flank before combining with Sam Mathews to play in Stuart Hogg, who jinked inside and unleashed a drive which fizzed past the far post.

Still United pressed, Eie and Del Monte combining to play Hogg in on the left seconds later. With better-placed team-mates ahead of him, the striker went for glory, and earned himself a chorus of derisive howls from the local faithful whose desire to see their team back in the tie did not extend to offering polite applause when hard-earned openings were wantonly wasted.

Hogg's response? “Will the equaliser satisfy you?” The reply was a resounding “YEESSSSSS!!!” in the 55th minute, as the Keith Hay Park cauldron erupted as one in response to the underdogs drawing level.

It came from a corner, with Del Monte's delivery arcing beyond the far post to Joel Mathews, who controlled the ball before driving it into the goalmouth. Hogg, lurking inside the six-yard box, swooped on the sphere and slammed it into the roof of the net from point-blank range - game on!

Now it was Miramar's turn to reel under the pressure, and how they held out in the 58th minute only they will know. Eie played the ball wide to Finlay, whose deep cross sought out Hogg beyond the far post.

Rangers captain Michael Woodside headed the ball out, but only as far as Del Monte, whose shot was blocked by the massed ranks of blue-and-black defenders, two of whom charged out to close down Alejandro Blanco's piledriver as Three Kings pounded away in search of a second goal.

The visitors weathered the storm, and with the pace of Rowe and Halstead in attack, had two options to whom they could easily turn to turn things round in their favour. The former was used in the 62nd minute, Barron sending Rowe racing clear with Little charging forward in support if required. He wasn't, Rowe opting for a low cross-shot which sped across the face of goal.

Three minutes later, Allen Chote charged down the right before playing the ball back to Rowe, whose eighteen yard volley was deflected over the bar. Wiremu Patrick's resulting corner picked out Woodside's head, but Finlay was perfectly placed to head off the line by the post.

Still Miramar came, Barron leading the charge in the 67th minute. Spotting Walters off his line, the All White unleashed a thirty-five yard chip which prompted some frantic back-pedalling before United's number one was able to tip the ball to safety.

Walters, with the assistance of Littlejohn and Sherard, then kept out a low Halstead drive before pawing away a Rowe cross intended for the head of

Little, arriving beyond the goalkeeper on the far post in the 72nd minute.

Four minutes later, Farrington's cross-field ball picked out Rowe on the left, and his cross flashed across the goalmouth, with Halstead's full-length diving header attempt in vain as he failed to make contact.

Three Kings weren't out of the contest by any means, but they were certainly hanging on at this point. Attacks from those clad in teal and royal blue were rare gems, but in the 78th minute, Finlay led the charge as a move which embraced the talents of Eie, Del Monte and Gravatt culminated in Sam Mathews seeing his shot deflected for a corner.

United's equaliser had come from a corner, but this time Del Monte's delivery was punched out by Hall, the ball landing some twenty-five yards out from goal. Five seconds later, there was a brief moment of stunned silence, followed by an almighty roar which was heard as far away from the nation's footballing home as its capital.

The collective silence was necessary for all present to register the fact that they had just witnessed one of the all-time-great Chatham Cup goals, a strike acquired from the same shop shelf which Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard raided to unleash one of the greatest FA Cup Final goals of all time in the 2006 epic against West Ham United.

Sam Mathews will never score a better goal than this in his life! The technical excellence and purity of execution of this stunning left-foot volley were matched by the sheer ferocity and accuracy of the effort - twenty-five yards, over Hall and all-comers and just under the bar into the roof of the net. 2-1 - and how!

The eruption of sound which exploded around Keith Hay Park in response to this screamer … those lining up putts on the adjacent Akarana Golf Course at the precise moment this goal was scored would have been forgiven for thinking Tiger Woods was producing something spectacular from his repertoire on one of the adjacent greens.

It was that sort of roar, an acknowledgement of something truly special, which this goal unquestionably was.

Miramar, their season now hanging by a thread, turned to their bench in an effort to salvage an equaliser, and they piled on the pressure in the minutes which remained. Barron bulldozed into the penalty area and deftly clipped the ball past the advancing Walters towards the gaping target.

Joel Mathews suddenly appeared, and with Rowe on his shoulder, coolly steered the ball past the post in the shadows of the crossbar three minutes from time. Seconds later, substitute Michael White played Barron in, only for Littlejohn to thwart the international with a tackle executed while parked on his posteria!

Still the visitors pounded away, but they were now vulnerable to the counter-attack, and in injury time, Del Monte led just such a raid down the right. Sixty yards after setting out on his run, he looked up to find Blanco steaming up in support, and presented his team-mate with a chance to wrap up the tie in emphatic fashion.

His twenty-yarder sizzled over the crossbar - Miramar still had hope. But seconds later, referee O'Leary's final whistle blew those hopes away, and sparked scenes of unconfined joy at Keith Hay Park, as Three Kings United celebrated reaching their maiden Chatham Cup Final with a come-from-behind 2-1 victory which will live long in the memory of club stalwarts, players, staff and supporters alike.

Three Kings: Walters; Joel Mathews, Littlejohn, Van Kekem (Gravatt, 23), Sherard; Finlay, S. Mathews, Blanco, Del Monte; Jacob Mathews (Eie, 45), Hogg (Scott, 82)

Miramar: Hall; Farrington, Woodside, Alderdice, Derbyshire (booked, 74); Chote (White, 82), Barron, Patrick, Little; Halstead (Sutherland, 82), Rowe (booked, 45)

Referee: Peter O'Leary

Chatham Cup