Thirsty Whale Napier City Rovers got their season well and truly back on track with a resounding 5-0 trouncing of Waterside Karori at Bluewater Stadium on Sunday.

After a mixed bag of results in the first four rounds of the Central League, and desperately needing three points to both assert their top-four credentials and provide some much-needed self-belief, coach Bill Robertson sprung some selection surprises, dropping the experienced Kaeden Atkins, recalling veteran Fergus Neil, and retaining 19-year-old Jack Albertini in Atkins' usual centre back role. Other changes saw Sam Lack drop to the bench for Alex Mort and a change of shape to provide an opportunity for English import Deri Corfe to play more centrally. Coaches live and die by their decisions, and in what was a “must win” for the Blues, Robertson got it right.

Under a typical Hawke's Bay blue sky and on a pristine Bluewater Stadium surface, Napier were off to a flyer when Christian Leopard latched on to a loose ball down the left and lifted a cross onto the head of a grateful Jonny McNamara to nod home the opener and settle the home sides nerves. 

It was one-way traffic for much of the next period with Karori devoid of ideas and lacking any real energy, and it was only a matter of time before Leopard doubled the lead. Jack Albertini carried the ball forward with purpose and picked out a gem of a pass for the run of right-back Iani Kalu who delivered a delicious cross for Leopard to hammer home from close range. 

McNamara was at it again 10 minutes before the break when he took advantage of some hesitant defending from Karori and rammed home number three before the outstanding Corfe essentially sealed the result four minutes later when he danced through a porous Karori defence leaving players in his wake and burying number four and his third of the season. Corfe is looking to be a real find for the Blues with his quality on the ball, technical excellence and eye for a goal. The ex-Manchester City Youth product had it on a string for most of the game. If Robertson can ensure he gets on the ball in the right areas, he will be a real game winner.

Heading into the break four-nil down, Karori made a couple of early changes at the re-start with local product and ex- Rovers defender Luca Barclay introduced along with experienced midfielder Simon Chretien who were both able to stem the flow of the Napier attack, at least for a while. On the hour mark, referee Antony Riley, who had an excellent game, awarded Napier a penalty for a dangerous challenge on Albertini. Corfe took responsibility for dispatching the spot kick and it was literally game over at that point. 

Robertson gave his bench a run with Sam Lack and Cam Emerson both making a solid fist of their 20 minutes of action and closing out what was a very comfortable day at the office for the Blues.

With a number of the other weekend's results going in Napier’s favour, the valuable three points sees them jump into fifth spot, and only two points off that sought after top four place, and with a trip to bottom placed Whanganui Athletic next, a top four spot by this time next week is not an unrealistic outcome.

For Karori, whilst they batted away and didn’t give up, they didn’t really threaten Oscar Mason’s goal in any serious way, and it probably summed up their first-half performance that second-half substitute Barclay was their man of the match. Skipper Harry Fautley and striker Jorge Akers toiled hard while veteran playmaker Leo Villa showed glimpses of his class. For the home side, McNamara and Corfe were excellent, skipper Jim Hoyle was his usual top-class self and led the increased defensive intensity with one outstanding block in the opening stanza, Kenny Willox worked tirelessly at both ends of the pitch, and Mason was a more imposing presence this week and will be happy with his clean sheet.

Round five of the Central League sees Thirsty Whale Napier City Rovers travel to Wembley Park to face Whanganui Athletic next Saturday, kick-off 2.30 pm.

Article added: Wednesday 26 April 2023