Waiuku out of the Chatham Cup at first hurdle

Waitemata matched Waiuku in the first half without looking threatening on goal. Waiuku nearly scored first when Jamie Pegg got free on the left and Robbie Leonard hit the cross bar with a right footed volley. Straight away Waitemata went down the other end and scored. Pegg got beaten on the right and the cross found an unmarked attacker who slotted home past Justin Baldwin making his first start in six weeks. Ten minutes later Waiuku equalised. Simon Millynn got free on the right, drew the keeper and scored from a tight angle. Just before halftime Leonard was carried off the field with an ankle injury after a bad tackle earned a yellow card.

Waitemata took the lead again early in the second half when a through ball was dropped by Baldwin and left to the Waitemata striker to hit an empty net. Then came the turning point of the game. Robert Hatton went up for an aerial challenge that left both players on the ground but he got up to see a straight red card which left both benches astonished. Two minutes later, Waitemata got a dubious penalty when a shot hit Elliott Crean on the back of the elbow but the Waitemata defender made no mistake to put his team 3-1 up. Waitemata got another penalty several minutes earlier as Baldwin in goal was adjudged to push a player out of the way as he went to collect a cross and again the defender made no mistake. Substitute Cody Ralph got on the scoresheet at the end after Phil Donovan sent him free. Final score 4-2

Coach Jim Evans was relaxed with the result "It was tough to decide this year whether the Chatham Cup took any priority with a lot of focus on making the top six in the grading competition this year. I am happy enough that we wont be playing when teams around us on the table are playing in the competition. However I was disappointed with the way the guys played today and Waitemata definitely deserved to win"