• Christchurch United vs Universi-ties, Spreydon Domain, Saturday 12.30pm

Christchurch United (division 1): Second, won 3, lost 1, drawn 1

Universities (Mainland Premier League): Eighth, won 1, lost 5, drawn 2

It can be funny how the luck of the draw works out.

These two sides spent last season fighting each other for promotion.

Universities finished first, making it to the premier league, while Unit-ed finished second, meaning another year in division 1 for one of Canter-bury’s proudest clubs.

United have won the Chatham Cup six times, making them the most successful club from the region.

They didn’t enter last season, but now they’re back and looking for-ward to it, said coach Stu Bola.

Bola believes his side is good enough to be in the premier league, and the game will provide a good in-dication of where they are at.

The Universities side they are up against is much the same as last sea-

son’s, and has found the step up to the premier league a challenge.

They won their first game of the season, but haven’t tasted success since.

Perhaps the cup will offer them a chance to start anew.

• Selwyn United vs Nomads United, Brookside Park, Saturday 2pm

Selwyn United (division 1): Third, won 3, lost 2, drawn 0

Nomads United (MPL): Seventh, won 1, lost 5, drawn 2

Selwyn United want a spot in the premier league, which is why coach Lee Padmore is excited about draw-ing premier league side Nomads United in the cup.

“It will show us where we’re really at,” he said.

Selwyn started the season on fire, winning their first three games and scoring six goals in each, but have since had two losses in a row.

Padmore said there will be less pressure on them in the cup.

“We’re not expected to get past the first round, and hopefully we can just

get back to playing football,” he said.Nomads will provide a sterner test

than their league position would suggest.

Their losses this season have most-ly been narrow, and they pushed league leaders Cashmere Technical closer than any other side.

• Waimak United vs Burwood A, Kendall Park, Saturday 2pm

Waimak United (division 1): First, won 4, lost 1

Burwood AFC (division 6): First, won 4, lost 0, drawn 0

Burwood AFC are the biggest un-derdogs in the region.

They play in division 6, five grades below any other team that has en-tered from Canterbury.

The draw has spared them an en-counter with a premier league side, but it has tossed up the next-worst thing.

They face Waimak United, who currently sit in line for promotion at the top of division 1.

Waimak coach Steve Bailey laughed when it was suggested his side had the easiest game

of the round.“There is no such thing as an easy

draw – I look at it as we’ve got the biggest potential banana skin,” he said.

Waimak went on a run all the way to the round of 16 last year. where they lost to eventual champions

Cashmere Tech, and Bailey is excited about the chance to do the same this time around.

Burwood coach Phil Schimanski said his side would be playing with an eye on showing Mainland Foot-ball they shouldn’t have been placed as low as they were.

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Sport SPORT TIPS?� Do you have a sports event or sports news of interest to our readers? Email details to andrew.voerman@christchurchstar.co.nz. Put ‘Sport’ at the start of the subject line, and be sure to include contact phone numbers.

• Parklands United vs Halswell United, Parklands Reserve, Satur-day 2pm

Parklands United (division 1): Sixth, won 2, lost 3

Halswell United (MPL): Fifth, won 2, lost 5, drawn 1

The last of three games between premier league and division 1 sides brings together two teams who are each having up and down seasons.

Parklands got a taste of what pre-mier league football is like when they met Western in the English Cup last week.

Coach Colin Grant said his team played out of their skins in that game, but admitted getting up for a game under lights at English Park was an easier task than for another Saturday afternoon at Parklands Re-serve, even if it is for the cup.

“I’ll try and gee up the lads to rise to the occasion,” he said.

Halswell have been on the wrong end of a few one-sided results in re-cent weeks, and coach Thomas Fry admitted they had lost a bit of con-fidence.

“It will be good to have a bit of change this weekend, and get some confidence going,” he said.

Fry said his side had to be confi-dent of getting the win, but wouldn’t be taking their opponents lightly.

• Coastal Spirit vs Western, Lin-field Park, Saturday 2pm

Coastal Spirit FC (MPL): Sixth, won 2, lost 5, drawn 1

Western AFC (MPL): Second, won 6, lost 1, drawn 1

These two side met last weekend in the league, where Western ran out 4-1 victors, though the scoreline be-lies the fight Coastal Spirit put up.

They lead 1-0 at the break, and apart from a 15-minute period where Western found the net several

times, were well in the contest.They also met in the first round of

last year’s cup, where Western again took the spoils, but coach Julian Morris isn’t expecting a repeat per-formance to come easy.

“The game will be a bit of a leveller and a challenge,” he said.

Western are a club with a proud history in the Chatham Cup, having won it three times and made the fi-

nal on six other occasions.The last came in 1966, a year fa-

mous in football for England’s only World Cup win, and with his team in fine form so far this season, Morris is hoping they might break the 48-year drought.

“We’d be disappointed not to charge ahead with the cup,” he said.

• Ferrymead Bays vs Cashmere

Technical, Barnett Park, Sunday 1pm

Ferrymead Bays (MPL): Third, won 3, lost 2, drawn 3

Cashmere Technical (MPL): First, won 8, lost 0, drawn 0

The biggest game of the round has the first and third-placed teams in the league doing battle – so it is only fitting that it has Sunday afternoon all to itself.

Tech haven’t dropped a point in the league, nor have they conceded a goal, while Bays have recovered from a slow start to their season and have won four of their last five.

Tech’s imperious record may have changed after they played Universi-ties in the English Cup last night, but you wouldn’t have bet on it.

Tech won the cup last year, in what coach John Brown said was “a bit of a fairytale,” and now the pressure’s on for them to translate their form into a successful defence.

The last team to win back-to-back titles was Auckland’s Central United in 1997 and 1998, and Tech’s quest to join them starts with the toughest draw you could imagine, according to Brown.

Bays’ coach Danny Halligan is well aware of the task ahead.

‘The beauty of cup football is there has to be a winner at the end of the day, and we won’t go in with fear,” he said.

challengers ready to kick off

FIERCE CHALLENGE: The 12 Chatham Cup entrants from Canterbury will play four rounds against local clubs, ďĞĨŽƌĞ�Ă�ŶĂƟŽŶǁŝĚĞ�ĚƌĂǁ�ŝƐ�ŚĞůĚ�Ăƚ�ƚŚĞ�ƋƵĂƌƚĞƌͲĮŶĂů�ƐƚĂŐĞ͘�� � ����������������W,KdK͗�E'�Z/��D��h>>K�,

Wednesday May 7 2014The Star 31read us online 24/7 at christchurchstar.co.nz