NUAFC 1968-2018

1998
said, adding that the club gets a lot of
support from the town's other codes.
"Anyone
from Ngaruawahia doing well gets
noticed. The rugby and the league boys
all know we are doing pretty well."
Ngaruawahia has three players
from Melville's national summer league
squad playing under coach Jeff
Coulshed this season, in Aaron Kingi,
captain Matthew Williams, Stuart
Watene and have just lost the services
of Melville goalkeeper Neil Mouncher.
"Grandad" of the team is Andy Bell,
a Ngaruawahia player since his junior
days, at 35.
17 JUL 1998 , Edition 2, Page 10.
Coach Coulshed ‘smelling roses' in Cup bid
By: ANDERSON Ian
Ngaruawahia soccer coach Jeff
Coulshed was picking Hamilton
Wanderers to win this year's Chatham
Cup.
Then Coulshed's side shocked
the premier division title-chasers by
eliminating them from the Cup in the
last round and now he believes anything
is possible for his own troops.
"We're smelling the roses,"
Coulshed said in reference to his side's
dream Cup run they don't want to end.
Tomorrow, the Northern League
division one side have an opportunity to
make the last four when they meet
premier division Bay Olympic from
Auckland at Ngaruawahia's home
ground of Centennial Park.
Despite Coulshed's insistence
that the playing surface should be fine --
"it'll be better than Huntly's" -- the
boggy pitch which
helped Ngaruawahia defeat Wanderers 1
-0 may be an asset in them overcoming
their higher-ranked opposition.
That's not to
say Ngaruawahia lack quality. Only a
dearth of goals has stopped them
climbing higher in division one than
their current sixth spot.
Their defensive record is near
impeccable -- just 11 goals conceded in
13 league games -- and is the side's
strongest weapon, featuring national
league players Aaron Kingi and Stu
Watene and the talented Marcus Trail.
Coulshed took a look at Bay
Olympic in their 4-2 loss against Mt
Wellington in a premier league match
last weekend and "picked up one or two
things we'll have up our sleeves".
"We'll look to stop them
operating like we did against Wanderers
but then it's up to my players to perform
as individuals to make us succeed as a
team," Coulshed said.
Ngaruawahia squad: Simon
Eadie, Wayne Bates, Marcus Traill,
Aaron Kingi, Stu Watene, Roddy
Rojas, Mark Phillips, Matt Williams,
Robert Edwards, Andy Bell, Johnny
Bell, Nik Helwig, Glen Brown, Gary
Kingi, Kerry Hawkes, Chris Barakat.
19 JUL 1998 , Edition A, Page 10.
Kingi fires Ngaruawahia
By: RUANE Jeremy
AN Aaron Kingi goal three
minutes from the end of extra time
fired Ngaruawahia United into the
semifinals of the Chatham Cup for the
first time yesterday with a 2-1 victory
over Premier League Bay Olympic.
The Jeff Coulshed-coached
side from the Northern First Division lit
up a gloomy Centennial Park after Brent
Edwards had put the Aucklanders ahead
in the first half.
But Kingi equalised in the 82nd
minute for the underdog to bring about
extra time in front of one of the biggest
crowds seen at the ground in recent
memory. With penalties looming, Kingi
pounced again to keep alive United's cup
dreams.
20 JUL 1998 , Edition 2, Page 18.
Cup fever grips Ngaruawahia as United roll into semifinals
Ngaruawahia United are a game
away from Chatham Cup soccer glory
and they are determined to make the
most of it.
The Northern League first
division club partied all weekend after
beating premier league side Bay
Olympic 2-1 in extra time at Centennial
Park on Saturday to move into the
semifinals.
Two classy Aaron Kingi
strikes were enough to see off a limp
challenge from the higher-ranked
Auckland side in a game that only
kicked into life during extra time.
Speaking from Ngaruawahia's
noisy clubrooms yesterday, coach Jeff
Coulshed said they had never made the
semifinals before in their 30-year history
and members wanted to savour it.
"I'm pleased for the players and
the club members who have stuck with
it.
"The win is just reward for
them all.
"Now with the break until the
semifinal next month we can stay in the
Cup a bit longer and enjoy it all.
"We want another home draw
to get a bit of revenue for the club and to
get the interest going again," he said.
The 250-strong crowd were
frustrated by the chances both teams
wasted until Kingi stepped up in the
115th minute to push his side into an
unlikely position of challenging for New
Zealand soccer's oldest trophy.
The Cup's waning reputation
matches the decline in the overall
standard of soccer in New Zealand after
the failed experiment of the national
summer league which weakened top
clubs and dispersed the best players.
But that should not detract
from Ngaruawahia's efforts and they
now have just as much chance to win it
as the other semifinalists.
Ngaruawahia have already
beaten premier league side Hamilton
Wanderers in this year's Cup run and are
now looking to today's draw to see who
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