Goals galore: No lack of firepower as Napier City Rovers win on the road

That includes a brilliant performance from Sam Lack, with the young attacker scoring two goals and being a constant threat to the opposition defence.

As the side prepare for another trip to Wellington this weekend, Robertson said he was proud – but not surprised – of the way his team had responded after the Upper Hutt City Football result.

“We set pretty high standards for ourselves,” he said.

“We expect to win our games at home, so a draw, it felt like a bit of a loss. It was certainly points dropped.

“The reaction against Island Bay, I did anticipate that.

“The boys were disappointed last week. The training had been good in the week leading up to Saturday’s match. I was pleased with the reaction; it was a really good performance and a good win.

“The game was tight for a while, certainly in the first half. But we were quite dominant and then as the game opened up, we really stamped our authority.”

Such was the performance from his players on Saturday, one of Robertson’s most challenging tasks would have been singling out a man of the match.

Every member of the starting XI stood up when their team needed it.

Lack and Stephen Hoyle – who switched from defence to playing up front – regularly ran their way around or through the opposition defence.

That duo, and fellow goal-scorer Harry Mason, were aided by some great delivery from the likes of Liam Schofield – who was one of his team’s best – and Mason Johnson.

Captain Jim Hoyle, who headed in a second-half corner from Schofield, George Andrew and Matt Jones showed their class and reliability on defence. Jones also highlighted the spark he can provide when going forward, running at speed to the edge of the Island Bay United box before passing to Mason who slammed home his second-half goal.

The four players – including 17-year-old debutant Alex Biju – who came off the bench during the final quarter also provided some spark as the Island Bay United defence tired.

Ethan Spencer, 17, who made his debut last year, scored his first league goal when he was brought into the match.

“Steve did a good job for us up front, linked well and obviously helped Sam grab a couple of goals,” Robertson said.

“And Sam had a good performance.

“It was really pleasing to see a number of other players stand up.

“We’ve got a debut for Alex Biju and Ethan Spencer at 17 has also got his first National League goal. It was great to see the young lads performing.”

There’s no let-up from southern road trips for Robertson’s team this weekend.

On Friday, they will again head to Wellington on the eve of their round-six Central League clash against Waterside Karori.

Their upcoming opposition are fifth on the points table.

It’s a match Napier City Rovers are again eyeing three points from. Later on Saturday afternoon in Wellington, league leaders Wellington Olympic will host the second-placed Wellington Phoenix Reserves.

“We’ll tick this win off now, get back to training and start to focus on Waterside Karori,” he said.

“Hopefully we can put in a similar performance [to what we did against Island Bay] and get a similar result.”

>> Inside the Rovers video series:

Episode 1: Match Fit

Episode 2: Teen’s Dream

Episode 3: New Beginnings

Episode 4: For Keeps

Episode 5: Kiwi Steve

Neil Reid is a Napier-based senior reporter who covers general news, features and sport. He joined the Herald in 2014 and has 33 years of newsroom experience.

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