NUAFC 1968-2018

they will face in their semifinal.
Coulshed expects there will be
a good turnout at this week's training --
"a good Cup run seems the only way to
get them down to train".
He has moulded a winning side
which is hard to beat on the small,
muddy home pitch even though they
lack the firepower up front to score
goals consistently.
After a shaky start on
Saturday, Ngaruawahia fully deserved
the win against Bay Olympic, who had
one of the slowest defences seen in
years, including 40-something former
All White Glen Adam.
1998
Coulshed said: "There's a great
team spirit with these lads, they work at
training and they are all battlers.
"I was always confident we
were the better side and would do it in
the end."
Standing: Mark Phillips, Chris Barakat, Wayne Bates, Aaron Kingi, Matt Williams, Marcus Trail, Simon Eaddy, Robert Edwards,
Kerry Hawkes, Gary Kingi.
Centre: Stu Watene.
Front: Andy Bell, John Bell, Nikolai Helwig, Glenn Brown, Stu Watene.
The mayor has never seen them
play, most of the squad live out of town,
and, in a rugby league hotbed, they even
play the wrong game.
Yet talk in Ngaruawahia today
is about their Cinderella soccer team
and the Chatham Cup.
The north Waikato club's run
to the semifinal of New Zealand's
equivalent of the England's FA Cup has
been, in the words of rugby-inclined
Waikato District mayor Angus
Macdonald, absolutely wonderful.
But the side from the Northern
League first division have been handed
a poisoned chalice -- a match against
Dunedin Technical, and less than a
21 JUL 1998 , Edition 2, Page 1.
How do they get to the ball?
month to raise more than $10,000 to get
there.
Coach Jeff Coulshed felt "a bit
sick" with the draw yesterday afternoon.
There was even a suggestion the club
might default.
But Coulshed is the right man
to have in times of trouble. He once
took the Waikato women's side to
Christchurch with less money than his
current club has.
"We took trains and a minibus.
We were buggered when we got there,
but we finished in the top four," he said.
"If we have to walk this time,
we will."
Coulshed is looking on the
bright side. He says the draw will
guarantee even more publicity
for Ngaruawahia and his unpaid squad -
- a cross-section of Hamilton
youngsters, schoolboys and town soccer
stalwarts.
"Everyone knows everyone
in Ngaruawahia -- the league and rugby
guys have all been round -- I'm sure the
community will get together."
The reward for the winner will
be a final against Central or Metro --
Ngaruawahia can rest assured the venue
will be no further south than
Wellington.
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