21 July 2003
The Press, Christchurch
Coach Colin Curry emerged from a deathly quiet dressing room, shook his head, and reflected that soccer could be a "cruel game" after Rangers' unlucky Chatham Cup quarter-final exit.
Young striker Adam Styles was a mere millimetre away from firing Rangers into the lead over six-time cup winners University-Mount Wellington at Eric Adam Park yesterday.
But Styles' shot hit the under-side of the crossbar and bounced back into the field of play instead of into the back of the net.
Let off the hook, University-Mount Wellington quickly cleared the ball and caught the Rangers' rearguard napping. With the Rangers defenders appealing vainly for off-side, young left wing Daniel Ellensohn lashed his shot past veteran goalkeeper Alan Stroud for the only goal of the game.
Curry admitted the 1-0 defeat was heart-breaking and he felt Rangers deserved a better reward for their efforts. "We go close at one end and they go straight down the ground and catch us on the hop.
"It's a cruel game."
Rangers' defeat means Canterbury's decade-long drought in New Zealand soccer's oldest competition will continue. The last Christchurch side to make the cup final was Rangers in 1993.
Stroud, the sole survivor from that side, was relatively untroubled yesterday by a subdued University-Mount Wellington attack.
It took until Ellensohn's goal for the Aucklanders' strike-force to find their feet against a Rangers defence marshalled well by Michael Lilley, Andrew Ellis, and Paul Hughes.
Stroud was beaten in the air at a first-half corner, but a Rangers defender came to his rescue to clear a header off the goal-line.
Rangers went close to scoring in the 26th minute when Jacobo Egues struck a sweet 25m shot which was tipped spectacularly around the post by University-Mount Wellington goalkeeper Tamati Williams.
Makeshift striker Paul Stanley, a veteran former national league defender, missed a free header at the far post from an Egues cross late in the first spell.
Styles, who had a busy game up front, fired just wide soon after the re-start before crashing a shot off the woodwork. He never gave up trying, though, and had two late shots batted away by 'keeper Williams, the first after a storming upfield run by centre-back Ellis, whose header was saved at the subsequent corner.
University-Mount Wellington striker Joe Waugh, the most impressive of the Auckland attackers, threatened twice towards the end. He, Heath McCormack, goalkeeper Williams, and former All Whites and Football Kingz defender Sean Douglas were University-Mount Wellington most solid performers. University-Mount Wellington – cup winners in 2001 – have progressed to a third consecutive semi-final.
