Dylan Manickum’s second half strike has given Oceania champions Auckland City their first Chatham Cup men’s football title and kept them on course for a coveted quadruple.
City, who have won Oceania honours 10 times, beat crosstown rivals Eastern Suburbs 1-0 in Sunday’s final at North Harbour Stadium.
Manickum struck around the 55th-minute mark after latching onto a neat backheel from captain Cam Howieson and feinting to wrongfoot the Suburbs defence.
His right-footed shot could have been saved by Joe Knowles, but the teenage keeper’s foot seemed to slip and the ball fizzed into the corner of the net.
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The cup – first presented in 1923 – has resided at City’s Kiwitea St headquarters five times after being won by sister club Central United in 1997, 1998, 2005, 2007 and 2012.
But that was in the days when Auckland City competed as a franchise in the summer national league and were thus precluded from the Chatham Cup.
This was their first cup victory under the Auckland City banner, with the national league now a club-based competition.
City will be the favourites to win the 10-team national league starting in October.
They are in with a chance of quadruple success, after already winning the Oceania Champions League final, 3-0 against Tahiti’s AS Venus in Auckland in August, and then wrapping up the Northern Premier League title before the Chatham Cup triumph.
But coach Albert Rieira, the former Wellington Phoenix favourite, will demand better than the performance produced in the cup final.
The first half was played at pedestrian pace, with Auckland City failing to find a way to breach Eastern Suburbs’ press.
It looked like City’s former All Whites striker Ryan de Vries was set to strike in the 27th minute, but Suburbs centreback Stephen Hoyle whipped the ball off his toes.
Knowles saved comfortably from City’s Alfie Rogers in the 30th minute, but there were few other chances in the first spell.
Manickum’s goal apart, the third quarter was hardly brimming with goal opportunities either before play became more open in the final exchanges.
Suburbs never gave up hope of an equaliser, with skipper Michael Built almost fashioning one in the 77th minute.
His searching corner wasn’t dealt with by the City defence and Hoyle, beyond the far post, turned the ball back across the goal where it was twice blocked by Auckland defenders before keeper Conor Tracey could swoop.
Experienced Suburbs forward Adam Thurston won a freekick soon after, but whipped his shot over the bar and Hoyle blazed over with a snapshot on the turn after another Built corner glanced off de Vries’ head.
Captain Howieson said before receiving the trophy that the club were delighted to win a first Chatham Cup and now wanted to pick up all four trophies in 2022.
“It was a great effort by the boys,’’ the former Burnley, St Mirren and All Whites midfielder said. “It wasn’t the prettiest of games, but we’re happy to get over the line.
“We’re going to keep going. That’s a third trophy this season ,but we want to make it and fourth and make history.’’
Three Eastern Suburbs players, keeper Knowles and midfielder Aaryan Raj and fullback Jackson Jarvie, are set to now join the New Zealand under-19 team at the Oceania championships in Tahiti.
They were given a late arrival pass by national coach Darren Bazeley to allow them to play in the cup final.
New Zealand advanced to the quarterfinals with a 9-0 win over American Samoa on Sunday.
Hamilton-based South Islander Oliver Colloty grabbed a hat-trick while Kian Donkers and Charlie Beale added doubles. Captain Finn Surman, from the Wellington Phoenix, also got on the scoresheet with Jackson Manuel.
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