Four-midable Tauranga book place in next round

Photo: Supplied.

Tauranga City booked their place in the next round of the Chatham Cup with a resounding 4-1 win over Metro on Monday – but not before some treacherous North Island weather threatened to derail their efforts.

After effectively aquaplaning up to Auckland on the Queen's Birthday, a flurry of first-half goals settled the tie and secured City's place in Thursday's third round draw.

The tie was placed in doubt before the players had finished their warm-up, with officials ruling the scheduled pitch waterlogged and unplayable.

However, as a last-minute alternative, and as other fixtures across Auckland were called to an early halt, City's game was switched to an artificial surface at Crum Park.

After a delayed start, the game itself was sealed with a torrent of Tauranga goals inside a frantic four-minute spell.

Jay Silcock continued his excellent form in front of goal, and followed up his late winner against Ellerslie on Saturday with the opener on the quarter-hour mark.

Just two minutes later, Tauranga doubled their lead thanks to defender Yago Zavoluk, and the contest was effectively over in the 19th minute when Andy Carter made it three.

Metro pulled one back through Pablo Yacksonjust before the break, but Riley Bidois put the tie well and truly out of the home side's reach with a fourth for Tauranga in the 72nd minute.

Another defensively sound performance brought further encouragement, while the only blight on the day was injuries to Silcock and Andy Smith inside the first 30 minutes.

*The draw for the third round of the Chatham Cup will take place on Thursday, June 7, and will be released via the New Zealand Football Twitter account, @NZ_Football, from 12pm.

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