The keenly awaited Chatham Cup tie between Dunedin Technical and Old Boys, from Invercargill, turned out to be a fizzer yesterday.
Technical racked up an 11-0 win at the Caledonian Ground.
"They [Old Boys] play in Invercargill's local competition, the Donald Gray, and it's a big ask to lift your game to a higher level in one match," was Technical coach Mike Fridge's charitable summation of the game.
In contrast, Technical won the cup in 1999, and two of those players were present yesterday, with top striker Aaron Burgess showing his talent is undiminished with a hat trick.
More distantly, Justin Flaws was a spectator due to suspension, but he still plays regularly for Technical.
Goals started after two minutes at the Caledonian when Dunedin defender Matt Joy scored.
Then came a regular procession. Burgess (three), Brad Rodden (two), Tristan Prattley, Victor da Costa, Alistair Rickerby and Mike Smith scored, while youngster Nik Meglinski snared his first goal at senior level.
Old Boys beat Waihopai 5-1 recently in a top-of-the-table clash in Invercargill and had hoped for a better performance against Technical.
Manager Darryl Fowler was disappointed, but said Old Boys still hoped to gain entry to the Footballsouth Premier League next season.
"We have plans to strengthen the team with new signings, and when the time comes, we will be competitive," he said.
At the Gardens, University made hard work of beating Northern 1-0 after Brazilian Guilherme Melo missed two penalties, and it was striker Anthony Tarrant who hit the facesaving goal.
Northern went close to forcing extra time when James O'Callaghan headed narrowly over Varsity's crossbar late in the tie.
Another two penalty misses marred Roslyn-Wakari's 4-1 win over Queens Park in Invercargill.
At Ocean Grove, Caversham was too strong for Grants Braes, winning 3-1 thanks to goals by Andrew Ridden, Evan Jones and Tom Jackson.
The weekend's red card tally continued to mount, with Gordon Lamont (Old Boys) and Cam McPhail (Northern) collecting cards.
