Navy Blues set for Cup Quarters in Dunedin

Words: ACFC Media

Friday 26 July 2024

Picture: Phototek

AUCKLAND, New Zealand - Auckland City FC will travel to Dunedin to take on Otago University AFC in the Chatham Cup quarter-finals on Saturday.

The Navy Blues have been busy lately, with this match being their fifth in just two weeks.

In their last outing, they secured a thrilling 2-1 victory over their Northern League rivals, West Coast Rangers, despite playing with 10 men for over an hour.

One of the heroes of Wednesday’s match, forward Angus Kilkolly, who stepped in as a goalkeeper after Conor Tracey’s dismissal says the Navy Blues will need to draw on their reserves in order to negotiate another tough test.

“Yeah, it's a hectic time of the season right now, next is another big game in Dunedin. The Chatham Cup is a competition we want to win.

“It’s important we recover well and we have to be at our best, we need to be focussed to get into the semifinals, so hopefully we go down there and get the job done,” Kilkolly said.

Regont Murati, in fantastic scoring form with four goals in his past five matches, echoed his teammate’s sentiments.

“It's a knockout match. It's like a final. We need bring the type of attitude, the type of personality we showed against Wes Coast Rangers.

“Yeah, they're going to be a good team, they are in the last eight of the competition.

“It's a quarter-final, you never know what's going to happen. But, yeah, we just need to bring our best to the game and hopefully get the win, said Murati.

Auckland City FC have won the 2022 edition of New Zealand’s premier knock-out football competition with a 1-0 victory over Eastern Suburbs in the title decider

Meanwhile Otago University’s best run in the Chatham Cup was in 2014 when they reached the final but lost 0–1 to Dunedin Technical.

In the 2021 edition, Otago University made it to the quarter-finals for the first time, facing North Shore United away before losing in a penalty shootout.

PLAYER TO WATCH - SAM CLEGG

The Otago University striker, is a former Auckland City FC U-23 alumni.

He made his debut off the bench in the U-23’s first-ever game, a 2-0 home win over Manukau United on 2nd April 2021.

Just three days later, he scored his first goal for City in an impressive 8-1 victory over Northern Rovers.

Clegg had to wait until 30th April 2022 to earn his first start, where he found the net against Birkenhead United in a 5-1 defeat at the Croatian Cultural Society.

During his time with Auckland City FC U-23, they clinched three Lotto NRFL U-23 Premiership league titles.

ROAD TO CHATHAM CUP QF - OTAGO UNIVERSITY AFC

CHATHAM CUP R1
Saturday, 11 May, 2024
Geraldine FC 1-3 (AET) Otago University AFC

CHATHAM CUP R2
Saturday, 1 June 2024
Green Island AFC 0-1 Otago University AFC

CHATHAM CUP R3
Saturday, 15 June 2024
Northern AFC 1-2 Otago University AFC

CHATHAM CUP R4
Saturday, 7 July 2024
Otago University AFC 3-2 Dunedin City Royals FC

You can watch the match live and free courtesy of FIFA+ HERE

MATCH DETAILS
CHATHAM CUP QF
Saturday 27 July 2024
v. Otago University
Dunedin Artificial Turf
Kick-off: 6:00pm

AC SQUAD: 1-Conor TRACEY (GK), 2- Mario ILICH (c) 3- Adam MITCHELL, 4-Christian GRAY, 5. Marco LORENZ, 6- Kailan GOULD, 8-Gerard GARRIGA. 9-Angus KILKOLLY, 10-Dylan MANICKUM, 11-Ryan DE VRIES, 12- Regont MURATI, 13-Nathan LOBO, 14. Matthew MATANYAYIRE 15. Luka VICELICH, 16-Joe LEE, 17. Jerson LAGOS, 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