City set sights on Chatham Cup quarters

Words: ACFC Media

Thursday 4 July 2024

AUCKLAND, New Zealand - Auckland City FC will be aiming for a spot in the last eight of the Chatham Cup when they travel to the Waipa District of the Waikatoto to face in-form Lotto NRFL Southern Conference side Cambridge FC on Saturday afternoon.

Backing up after Wednesday night’s hard-fought win over Northern League rivals Manurewa AFC, the Navy Blues can’t afford to underestimate their hosts who are shaping up as a potentially tricky opponent, especially in a one-off knockout game.

Cambridge have been in fantastic form in the NRFL Southern League this season, dominating the competition to sit well clear on top with 11 wins from as many matches and with an impressive plus 49 goal-difference after scoring 60 times while conceding on 11 occasions.

Their Chatham Cup run has also been impressive, highlighted by their R3 performance defeating Northern League side Bay Olympic 2-1 at Olympic Park.

In R2 the Jordan Shaw-coached team overcame Northern United 4-2 on the road while in the opening round of the competition they recorded another away win against Papakura FC which ended 8-5 after extra time.

Gerard Garriga is adamant the Navy Blues are aware of the threat posed by their home side.

“Cambridge are in this round because the totally deserve it, they beat Bay Olympic, they are on a good run in their league, they won all of their games.

“They are going to be buzzing they are going to come at us and it’s going to be a really tough game and it doesn’t matter what division they play, all of the games are difficult and this will be too.

“We have to be prepared fro that because we want to be in the quarterfinals, last year we missed the quarterfinals and we want ti be there,” explained Garriga.

ACFC supporters travelling to Cambridge for Saturday’s match are all invited to meet at the “Good Union” for pre-game lunch.

Ends

MATCH DETAILS
Chatham Cup R4
Saturday, 6 July 2024
Auckland City FC v Cambridge FC
John Kerkhof Park, Cambridge
Kick-off: 1:00pm

AC SQUAD: 1-Conor TRACEY (GK), 2- Mario ILICH (c) 3- Adam MITCHELL, 4-Christian GRAY, 6- Kailan GOULD, 8-Gerard GARRIGA. 9-Angus KILKOLLY, 10-Dylan MANICKUM, 11-Ryan DE VRIES, 12- Regont MURATI, 13-Nathan LOBO, 16-Joe LEE, 18 - Areya PRASAD (GK), 19-Liam GILLION, 20- Derek TIEKU, 21- Adam BELL, 22-Tong ZHO, 23- Alfie ROGERS, 24-Joe WALLIS (GK), 25- Michael DEN HEIJER, 26-Rayan TAYEB, 27-Stipe UKICH.

COACH: Albert RIERA
ASSISTANT COACH: Ivan VICELICH
GK COACH: Enaut ZUBIKARAI
TECHNICAL: Adria CASALS
LOGISTICS: Keith COTON
PHYSIO: Matt PAYNE