Ignoring the tired and tested ‘just-another-game’ mantra, Napier’s Grant Hastings and Wairarapa’s Phil Keinzley have decided there is no point ignoring that a rare chance to win one of New Zealand sport’s oldest trophies is perfect motivation.
“It’s pretty hard for anyone to say this is just a game – this is an occasion,” Hastings says.
“I’ve been stressing to the players that they really have achieved something very special by getting this far. This is an 89-year-old trophy and there’s probably less than 2000 people with winners medals and there’s a lot of people who play this game. So they can be proud of what they’ve achieved and motivated to take the next step.”
Napier City will be playing their sixth final and chasing a fifth victory – a mark that only three clubs have bettered in the competition’s long history while Wairarapa charted new territory this season when they progressed through to the quarter-finals.
In the Wairarapa, United’s Cinderella run has generated plenty of local buzz despite only playing one of their six cup fixtures at home. Keinzley says it was important to stay plugged into the community’s interest and support while not letting it affect preparations.
“You have to accept that things are different this week,” Keinzley says.
“I’ve told the team we can’t ignore the attention so to enjoy the moment but we won’t be doing anything different on the pitch. We’ll stick to what’s worked for us all season. We’re not going to change our style of play.
“The job’s not finished. We need to realise that making the final wasn’t our aim. We want to win the thing.”
Wairarapa have no injury concerns heading into Sunday while Napier are missing the injured Joe Simkins and Junior All Whites forward Andy Bevin, who has taken up a football scholarship in the United States.
Both clubs are counting on busloads of supporters making the respective trips through the Manawatu Gorge and interested locals are expected to bolster a bumper crowd at Memorial Park.
The sides have met twice in the Central League this year with Wairarapa doing the double over their East Coast rivals but Keinzley is giving less weight to those results than his Napier counterpart.
“I think we both play a similar style and like to play football if given the chance so it should be an entertaining match. We were lucky to win the first one so you can’t read too much into those games. It’ll be a tight match between two very close teams,” he says.
“We know exactly how good Wairarapa are,” Hastings says. “They are a very good side, there’s no doubt about that.
“I have a huge amount of respect for what they’ve achieved and what Phil Keinzley has done at that club. We know a lot about them and what we know is probably not that comforting.”
84th ASB Chatham Cup Final
Napier City Rovers vs Wairarapa United
Memorial Park, Palmerston North
Sunday 28 August, 2pm
Live coverage on Radio Sport in lower North Island or at www.radiosport.co.nz nationally (click on football commentary tab)
Napier City Rovers: (from) 1-Matt GOULD (GK), 2-Lee JACKSON, 4-Bill ROBERTSON, 5-Regan CAMERON (Captain), 6-Reilly O’MEAGHER, 7-Matt HASTINGS, 8-Stu WILSON, 9-Matt SINGLE, 10-Danny WILSON, 11-Andy PICKERING, 14-Josh STEVENSON, 17-Fergus NEIL, 18-Luke CHAPMAN, 19-Nick MATHESON, 20-Hamish PRICE, 21-William STANGER, 22-Sven EXETER, 23-Shaun PETA (GK)
Coach: Grant HASTINGS
Wairarapa United: (from) 1-Matt BORREN (GK), 2-Miroslav TVAROH, 3-Carl SHAILLER, 4-Scott ROBSON, 5-Nathan COOKSLEY, 6-Dale HIGHAM, 7-Pablo MOYA, 8-Waisaki SABATU, 9-Seule SOROMON, 10-James OXTOBY, 11-Campbell BANKS, 12-Aaron SPIERLING, 14- Adam MILNE, 16-Niki KEINZLEY, 17-Pita RABO, 18-Nobi ISHI, 19-Adam COWAN (Captain), 31-Josh MANN (GK).
Coach: Phil KEINZLEY
Match Officials
Referee: Peter O’LEARY
Assistant Referee: Jan-Hendrik HINTZ
Assistant Referee: Simon LOUNT
Fourth official: Matt CONGER
Road to the Final
Napier City Rovers
Round 1: Bye
Round2: Napier City Rovers 5 Miramar Rangers 0
Round 3: Stop Out 0 Napier City Rovers 1
Round 4: Napier City Rovers 3 Palmerston North Marist 0
Quarter-final: Napier City Rovers 3 Manurewa 2 (a.e.t, 2-2 FT)
Semi-final: Napier City Rovers 2 Caversham 1
Wairarapa United
Round 1: Wainuiomata 1 Wairarapa United 6
Round2: Lower Hutt City 1 Wairarapa United 2
Round 3: Red Sox Manawatu 0 Wairarapa United 6
Round 4: Wellington United 0 Wairarapa United 1
Quarter-final: Wairarapa United 4 Waitakere City 1
Semi-final: Bay Olympic 0 Wairarapa United 1
Story courtesy of New Zealand Football.
For more on New Zealand football go to www.nzfootball.co.nz

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