Wellington Olympic Are The 2024 Chatham Cup Champions
An undeniable rivalry has emerged between Wellington Olympic and Auckland City these past few years and the funkiest thing about it is that they only ever play for high stakes. They’re in different regional conferences so we don’t get any sloppy April meetings with rotated line-ups. The Mediterranean Derby only occurs in the National League, in the late rounds of the Chatham Cup, and in Oceania Champions League qualifying. It’s hard to argue that these are the two best clubs in the country and every time they lock horns they seem to supply some outrageously good footballing entertainment. Wellington Olympic triumphed in the National League final last year. Auckland City got the better of the Greeks in OCL qualifying back at the start of the 2024 season. The Chatham Cup was polished. The rugby markings at North Harbour Stadium were (mostly) scrubbed away. A big night beckoned.
Wellington Olympic hadn’t won this trophy since 2009 but their coach Paul Ifill lifted it just last year with Christchurch United. The Greeks were flustered through the Central League season, winning 17 of their 18 fixtures with their only loss coming against Western Suburbs way back in April – meaning they entered this game on a 21-match undefeated streak in league and cup action. Ifill’s not tinkered with a winning formula very much since inheriting the side. They still had a back three here. Still had wing-backs expected to be key parts of the attack. Still had transitional menaces throughout the line-up. Scott Basalaj was in goal. Justin Gulley, Ben Mata, and Adam Supyk in defence. Jonty Roubos and Jack-Henry Sinclair out wide. In midfield were Tam Dimairo and Luke Tongue. Gianni Bouzoukis and Eddie Wilkinson operated higher up with Hamish Watson leading the line. Wilkinson followed Ifill from Christchurch Utd though he was playing in Aussie when they won the Chatham Cup (Luke Tongue did win it with Cashmere Technical a couple years ago). Bouzoukis spent much of this year in Oz but returned a few weeks ago.
Auckland City won the CC in 2022, you’ll remember that as the year in which they won absolutely everything. The Quadruple Season. This has been a strange year for them though. Inspirational captain Cam Howieson and sizzling winger Liam Gillion both signed with Auckland FC and this was after a few stalwarts like Emiliano Tade and Takuya Iwata had already ended up at Western Springs. Even just last week they officially lost back-up goalie Joe Wallis when he signed an U21s deal with West Bromwich Albion. It’s still a familiar looking side but Albert Riera (both coaches here being Wellington Phoenix legends) has had to reinvent things on the fly as the year’s gone along. That’s probably kept them from looking as intimidating as they have done in previous Northern Leagues... yet they still have that knack for finding crucial late goals to turn matches in their favour. Birkenhead, Western Springs, and Eastern Suburbs all gave them a nudge during the league season but none could find the consistency needed to take the title away from the Navy Blues. Four years in a row.
ACFC went with an eleven that allowed plenty of room for attacking weaponry. Conor Tracey wore the gloves. Michael den Heijer partnered Adam Mitchell in defence. Reggie Murati on the right. Nathan Lobo on the left (two positive-minded fullbacks). Gerard Garriga was the deepest midfielder with Joe Lee and Kailan Gould ahead – Gould is an ex-Olympic dude who scored against Auckland City in the National League final last year. Ryan de Vries sat in the pocket with Angus Kilkolly up top and NZ U19s standout Stipe Ukich drifting from side to side. Ukich had some Auckland FC rumours not so long ago but it sounds like he’d rather go pro in Europe when he turns 18 instead. Kilkolly only scored four league goals this season but has been unstoppable in the Cup scoring in every round including hat-tricks in the quarters (vs Otago Uni) and semis (vs Birkenhead). Nine cup goals overall. Tracey, Mitchell, De Vries, and Lee all started the 2022 final, as did Mario Ilich who was on the bench here. Garriga and Kilkolly played off the bench that day.
The match wasn’t even a minute deep when Den Heijer fizzed a shot over the top of the Olympic goal to ensure the fans were all seated. Auckland City tried to grasp control from the outset. They’re not the same team they once were, less of that metronomic passing these days, but they’ve balanced that out with more dribblers and they still know how to go through the gears in possession - as they showed with an extended passing move that ended with RDV flicking one over to Garriga who shot wide. Wellington Olympic preferred to sit off and plug the passing lanes rather than trying to press, knowing how potent their counter attack can be... which is how JHS almost did some damage with blistering run that led to a deflected attempt. Eddie Wilkinson made similar slaloming run soon after and his attempt was only inches away. That was the threat. They do it in in different ways but both of these teams can turn it on at the drop of a hat.
They’re also both extremely good defensively - Coastal Spirit were the only other National League team to concede fewer than a goal per game during the regional leagues. RDV curled a chance slightly high as Auckland City kept moving the ball. Luke Tongue had a first-time shot on target up the other end. Chances were there but they were scarce so therefore the final remained scoreless at the break.
That arm-wrestle remained for much of the evening, although Conor Tracey did produce a magnificent one-handed save to prevent Roubos from drilling a half-volley into the roof of the net at the start of the second half. Paul Ifill was the first manager to react. He threw on Gavin Hoy for Luke Tongue after an hour. Kilkolly tried his luck from range and didn’t miss by too much. Joe Lee went even closer, spinning on the ball and then ripping one off the crossbar from twenty yards. Couldn't quite match Charlotte Roche from the Kate Shep final earlier. For all the cut-and-thrust from both sides, the game still had a slightly tentative feel (probably due to how ridiculously organised the two defences were) but the temperature was rising on the stovetop and the boiling point wasn’t far away.
The boil was reached with 75:50 on the game clock when Nathan Lobo scored an own goal. Olympic substitute Isa Prins had found a little space up the left wing after a slip from Murati. Cover came across quickly which forced Prins into an early cross. The delivery looked sumptuous but there wasn’t really anyone in the middle to get at it. The phase would have come to nothing had the ball not bounced directly in front of Lobo and ballooned off his shin and over the keeper and into the goal. Freaky-deaky footy. Wellington Olympic had the lead.
Two things that Auckland City are renowned for are their ability to score crucial late goals and their ability to respond positively to conceding. Sometimes it takes the wake-up call of letting in a goal to shake them out of their passing torpor. Mario Ilich and Tong Zhou were subbed on after 81 minutes, the first changes made by Riera. Ilich had an immediate impact with a header flicked wide at the far post from one of the many corner kicks that ACFC would earn as this game ticked onwards. Derek Tieku came on for Kilkolly, ending AK’s cup scoring streak, while Matthew Matanyayire replaced Lobo.
Another of those corners saw Ilich nod the ball across for Ukich to flip it on target only for Sinclair to make a goal-line clearance. Ukich had another effort from the next corner, this time driving it low where it hit a teammate before Ilich’s follow-up was brilliantly saved by Basalaj then turned home by Tieku who was incensed to see the lino’s flag pop up. He thought he was onside. He was correct. But the accidental block off Ukich’s original shot was where the offside had happened. Meanwhile, Olympic pumped the ball long from the free kick and next thing Isa Prins had the ball in the opposite net. But he was offside too. Neither of them counted. Madness in Albany.
Not quite enough madness for a Chatham Cup final though. Remember last year when Melville goalkeeper Max Tommy scored in the last seconds to send the match into extra time? That’s the kind of thing we’ve been trained to expect from these games, so up popped Stipe Ukich with a strong header in the 90+5th minute and boom that was 1-1. The youngest man on the pitch with the goal that earned another thirty minutes – this dude doesn’t even turn 18 until January. Also gotta save some praise for Joe Lee’s work on the left wing to create space and float that cross into the danger zone. Chatham Cup, baby!
To their credit, the Greeks responded positively to conceding by creating a few half-moments before the end of regulation. They then forged the first big chance of extras when Hamish Watson stroked a Kaelin Nguyen cross towards goal to where Conor Tracey made another very good save. City had to settle things down so on came Christian Gray as a third CB, changing the shape to allow them to get back into their passing bag and lower the heat. It worked, although Watto did make one driving run into the box leading to a shot that was deflected wide. 105 minutes down, 15 to go.
Again Watson came close to being the hero with a header early in the second spell of ET. Olympic were the more courageous team during the bonus stuff but ACFC don’t need to take risks in order to offer a goal threat so that was to be expected. Ukich nodded a header off the outside of the post. Watson glanced one over the top with the last act of the match. 1-1 after 120 minutes and thus for the second year in a row it’d be penalties to decide the Chatham Cup.
Wellington Olympic went first. Ben Mata managed to squeeze his shot past Tracey who dove the right way. Mike den Heijer went next and gently stuck it down the middle to score. Justin Gulley sent CT the wrong way to convert the next one. 17-year-old Stipe Ukich followed and had no issues. Isa Prins buried his attempt. Mario Ilich left no doubt as he made it 3-3. Still on serve, as the tennis folks would say. Gavin Hoy’s perpetual smile remained after his shot crept under the dive of Tracey. So close. Derek Tieku scored in turn and that made it four from four apiece. Hamish Watson loves the big stage so he stroked his spottie inside the post... and that’s where the advantage of going first becomes so huge. Nobody had faltered yet it was up to Tong Zhou to score or else that would be that. He didn’t score. Basalaj made a wonderful one-handed stop sending the ball over the top... but he’d jumped early. Zhou got a retake. Basalaj saved that one too.
Albert Riera knows the feeling because he missed the decisive penalty for Central United when they lost the final on penalties to Onehunga Sports back in 2017. Paul Ifill can’t relate though, he’s won consecutive Chatham Cups with different teams and each time his sides were victorious on penalties. Nice to see a bunch of Zhou’s teammates consoling him afterwards – Hamish Watson was also amongst that crew, shout out to him. This makes Wellington Olympic the first team from the capital to win the CC since Miramar Rangers in 2009 (the year after WO’s previous Chatham Cup). This also fills out the trophy cabinet for a bunch of those Olympic dudes who’d won basically everything else there is to win. They’re already defending National League champs. Three Central League titles in a row. A few of them (Basalaj, Watson, Sinclair, Gulley) were with Team Wellington when they won the OCL.
Stipe Ukich got the Jack Batty Memorial Cup. Not often that a player from the losing team gets that honour but this was fair enough after what felt like a grand announcement performance from one of the best young players in the country. He’s quick and skilful, capable of ripping past markers, but just to show that he’s bigger than he looks his goal came from a header (he also had a header cleared off the line and another hit the post). Ukich was at the heart of most of ACFC’s best stuff. Scored the goal that kept the game alive. Scored in the shootout. Didn’t shirk his defensive duties either. The way that Ela Jerez used the Kate Sheppard Cup final stage last year to let everyone know her name, that’s what Stipe Ukich did in the 2024 Chatham Cup decider.
Losing on penalties is always awkward but Auckland City seemed pretty philosophical about it afterwards. Michael den Heijer was a strong presence at the back for them. Joe Lee was very effective. Stipe Ukich of course. And Conor Tracey had a belter in goal with a few highlight saves, if only he’d been able to save a penalty or two in the shootout then that could have been his JBM award instead. As for the champs, Scott Basalaj’s gotta be up there thanks to that penalty save. The back three of Gulley, Mata, and Supyk were great, really setting the tone for the team’s effort. Plus Isa Prins had a wonderful cameo off the bench, giving the Greeks a boost up that left side and setting up the goal. It means something that they were able to keep their heads up after conceding such a late equaliser too. That’s not easy to do.
With that, both national cups have been won by the most recent National League champs. Wellington Olympic Men matched Auckland United Women in that achievement. Auckland City therefore miss out on the chance to claim another quadruple but this rivalry isn’t over for 2024. Auckland City won the OCL qualifying. Wellington Olympic came out on top in the Chatham Cup. Soon they will meet again in the National League to determine yearly bragging rights. Or, you know, maybe some other club wins it instead.
Cheers for reading... if you dig the yarns on TNC then consider supporting us on Patreon, Substack, or Buy Me A Coffee so that we can afford to keep on serving them up
While you’re at it, feel free to whack an ad, do the likes and shares, and tell your mates about us
Keep cool but care