Melville head to North Harbour Stadium on Sunday in pursuit of Chatham Cup glory, though will arguably be underdogs against Southern League champions Christchurch United, who are chasing their seventh cup triumph, but first since 1991.

The cup final kicks off at 4pm at Albany, with the women's Kate Shepard Cup final contested at 1pm. Information on club-organised travel will be advised on social media shortly.

SEE also Slaying the cup final ghosts

While Melville ended their northern league campaign with a 3-3 away draw with Western Springs which saw them finish ninth in the league, Christchurch United suffered their only loss of the season, going down 1-3 at home to Cashmere Technical, having already won the Southern League three rounds earlier.

Melville contested cup finals in 2003 and 2019, while parent clubs Waikato United won the cup in 1988 and were finalist in 1992. Predecessor club Technical Old Boys (Hamilton) won the cup in 1962.

The only Melville players remaining from the team which lost 2-3 to Napier City Rovers in the 2019 final are skipper Aaron Scott, goalkeeper Max Tommy and Liam Hayes.

For Scott it will be his final major appearance for Melville before retiring - with a testimonial match scheduled for Saturday September 23 at Gower Park (kick-off time to be advised).

Melville's road to the final saw them beat Otumoetai 7-1 (A),  Takapuna 1-0 (A), Fencibles United 2-0 (A), Western Springs 1-0 (H) and Waterside Karori 3-1 (H).

Melville rested several players on Saturday, not wanting to risk bookings or injuries ahead of the final.

Max Tommy, Jerson Lagos and Liam Hayes were completely rested, Aaron Scott and Ry McLeod did just 57 minutes, and George Brown did 33 minutes.

It meant that 15-year-old Max Mitchell got to make his first team debut in a starting role,while in terms of youth policy, in the cup final there is every prospect that Melville may be starting two 16-year-olds in midfielder Isaac Bates and right back Lucca Lim.

Melville's goals came from two - including a penalty - from Jakob England and one from substitute Keagan Thompson, who enjoyed a livewire spell after he came on in the 57th minute.

# Melville Reserves lost 4-2 to Springs after having led early through goals from Harry Oxford and Asher Clark. 

It was the toughest week of the season, with numerous players having competed all week in school tournaments, and Melville were fielding a host of U15 players, 

Indeed, with all hands on deck, even Melville head coach Jarrod Young made his playing debut, while assistant coach Kshitij Gohel came off the bench.

Charlie Holloway, who had played all week in assisting Aaron Scott's Hamilton Boys' High to the premier schoolboys quarterfinals in Christchurch, copped an 89th minute red card.

# Congratulations to Melville's Laura Bennett, named last week in the NZ squad for next month's OFC U-16 Women’s Championship, set to be played in Tahiti.

And also to former Melville academy product Manaia Elliott, who is now on a scholarship contract with Wellington Phoenix.

Article added: Monday 04 September 2023