Super Melville grafted their way into the Chatham Cup semifinals for the third time in the past 10 attempts, with a dogged 1-0 home win over Western Springs 

The tie, played under lights on Gower Park No 6, mean fans should keep the weekend of August 19-20 free, with the semifinal draw due sometime Tuesday.

It was a fiercely contested tie on a less than perfect pitch and the result was a delight to the team and fans in what has often been a testing season.

Flashpoint in the match came five minutes into the second spell, when Jerson Lagos (pictured above) seized on a Springs attempt to play the ball out from the back with an exceptionally short ball from goalkeeper Regan Diver to one of his defenders.

Jerson dispossessed the defender and from a few metres out crashed the ball past Diver on a tight angle. Jerson had threatened a similar intervention in the first half and this was just another case of Jerson doing Jerson things to claim his fourth goal of the season.

General play in the match was very even, though in goal Max Tommy only had one save to make.

Among those on the sideline was former FIFA ref Chris Kerr, and he tweeted this summary: "Watched both Chatham Cup 1/4s in Hamilton today. Chrsitchurch Utd too good for Ham Wanderers on a bowling green at Cambridge and were allowed to play some lovely football. Melville vs Springs was scrappy but intensity that hasn’t been seen since the old Auckland City v Waitakere derbies."

That's probably being a little too generous to a number of players from both teams who are not quite at top domestic level, but the descriptors "scrappy" and "intensity" convey the essence of the occasion.

Melville lost Sean Liddicoat to injury (and a booking) midway through the second half. 

Best for Melville were Aaron Scott, Liam Hayes, Erik Panzer, and of course Jerson.

Melville are away to Bay Olympic, 3pm at Ken Maunder Park No 2 on Saturday. 

Article added: Tuesday 01 August 2023