Suburbs progress in Chatham Cup

By Peter Jones

Nelson Suburbs may have progressed to the third round of the prestigious Chatham Cup competition at Blenheim’s A&P Park on Monday, but they were made to battle all the way for their 2-1 victory.

The Mainland Premier side were up against Rangers AFC, the Marlborough-based side who are defending champions in the Nelson division league.

Although the visitors were hot favourites to prevail, the closeness of the scoreline is indicative of the nature of the match.

Playing in drizzle and on a slippery pitch, Suburbs opened the scoring in the just the fourth minute, a 35m free kick from influential midfielder Alex Ridsdale skidding into goal at the near post.

Up front, Josh Moffat, Ben Polak and Carl Connor-McClean were dangerous throughout, running hard into space and often testing Rangers’ keeper Liam Kennedy.

However, the home side, rather than dropping their heads after such an early setback, began to find the pace of the game and created some opportunities of their own.

Rangers’ strikers Adam Rose, Sam Pearson and Jono Masters began to find some space but, with defenders Hamish Cadigan, Sam Ayers and Lucas Hogg, plus keeper Corey Wilson combining expertly, the score remained the same until the break.

The equalising goal came in the 55^thminute, through Rangers’ player/coach Tore Waechter.

After squandering a clear chance to drive the ball into the net with his left foot minutes earlier, the powerful midfielder curling the ball into the far corner with his right foot.

With the scores level and all to play for, the tempo rose, Rangers often hammering long balls forward while Suburbs were content to thread passes together.

The visitors made some changes as time ticked away and extra time loomed, with one of the substitutes, William Tucker, provided the match-winner with five minutes to play.

A stinging shot was parried by keeper Kennedy, Tucker first to react in a goalmouth scramble as he prodded the ball home.

Rangers threw everything into attack, introducing subs Kane Elvy and Liam Clamp, but were unable reply in the short time remaining.

Suburbs’ coach Neil Connell was content to get the result, never mind the scoreline, especially given his side had played a tough Mainland League match on Saturday.

“We always knew it was going to be a battle,” he said. “Conditions didn’t help and especially having a game two days ago the boys were a bit leggy as well and I think that showed … they looked a bit tired to begin with.

“I didn’t feel we were put under too much pressure … overall we probably had around 60-70 percent of possession. All in all, we will take the win and move on to the next round.”

He singled out Hogg, Ayers and midfielder Chester Gaskin for special mention.

The Rangers’ side showed they could foot it higher-rated opponents, especially Waechter, Harrison Pine and key defender Jordy Columbus.

Waechter said his charges, while obviously disappointed, would be able to take plenty of positives away from the match.

“Every time we play cup footy we just want to be up for it and everyone was today. It is frustrating losing to two fairly scrappy goals but we just wanted to show that we could match these guys, and we were more than competitive … everyone put in a big shift, that’s all you can ask for.”

Nelson Suburbs 2 (Alex Ridsdale, Will Tucker)

Rangers AFC 1 (Tore Waechter).

HT: 1-0 Suburbs