University are the last Dunedin football club standing in the Chatham Cup and have home advantage as they play Auckland City at the Logan Park turf tonight.
It is a big occasion for the club, making their first finals appearance since 2021, when they were knocked out of the quarterfinals in a penalty shootout against North Shore.
Coach Rob Mitchell said they were all looking forward to the opportunity to host a big club like Auckland City tonight.
His side have been impressive throughout the Cup — and the ODT Southern Premiership — so far this season.
They beat Geraldine 3-1, Green Island 1-0, Northern 2-1 and Dunedin City Royals — who play in the Southern League — 3-2 earlier this month.
Mitchell put their form down to the young students coming together, working hard, and doing it for themselves.
"That’s what it’s about", Mitchell said.
But their opposition have also been on a hot run this season, bouncing back strongly from being knocked out in round four by cross-town neighbours Western Springs last year.
Auckland City had some nice wins over Metro (5-0), Hamilton Wanderers (2-1) and Cambridge (4-1) in the opening rounds.
Mitchell hoped to see a big crowd from the local football community out to support the game.
With University having no junior club, they put the call out to other local southern clubs for their junior players to help out as ball runners.
The community responded and now eight ball runners — plus a couple of other local players — will play a junior game during halftime of the Chatham Cup fixture.
Kick off is at 6pm and the game will be livestreamed on the Fifa+ app.
