Dunedin City Royals player Sylvie Haig gets past Cashmere Technical defender Denva Perrott during their Kate Sheppard Cup quarterfinal at Tahuna Park on Saturday. PHOTO: GERARD O'BRIEN Margarida Dias drew the penalty and then delivered from the spot to end the Dunedin City Royals’ Kate Sheppard Cup dreams on Saturday. The former Royals player was dragged down in the box, before stepping up to deliver from the spot in the 70th minute. It was the telling blow to send Cashmere Technical through to the Cup semifinals with a 2-1 win on Tahuna Park. The Royals settled quickly into the quarterfinal, and had Tech struggling to get out of defence. However, on seven minutes Tech worked the ball down the right hand flank and a square ball into the six yard box was steered home off the left hand post by Kailey Short. Royals leading goal scorer Georgia Nixon was influential as they created a handful of chances, before Dias had a diving header well-saved by Royals keeper Aliya Garrett on the half hour mark. The Royals looked for an equaliser in the opening minute after the break, as Burgess won the ball in her own half and the movement resulted in a goal-bound shot that was well-saved. However, the flag went up for offside. A Royals counterattack in the 54th minute resulted in Sylvie Haig nearly scoring — however the flag went up for offside again. With 20 minutes to go Dias showed good skill to control the ball, used her strength to bounce off defenders and as she ran into the box and shaped to shoot. She was dragged down and subsequently delivered from the penalty spot. The Royals managed one of their own when a deep inswinging corner from Charlotte Summers to the far post deceived keeper Herdman, who put it into the back of her own net. The Royals could not find an equaliser, meaning Cashmere Tech made it to the semifinals for the second year in a row. After a 600km round trip last weekend, playing Wānaka in the Southern League, Northern had an arduous three-day, 1500km road trip when they faced Nelson Suburbs in the fourth round of the Chatham Cup in Nelson. Suburbs, who made the Cup semifinal last year, took an early lead through a Johnny Reynolds penalty on seven minutes, given after a handball decision. The match was played in challenging conditions with driving wind and rain and given the travel fatigue of Northern, Suburbs looked to capitalise before Northern could settle. Reynolds doubled the lead on 21 minutes with a strike from inside the top of the box. After the break, Northern played into the wind and keeper Jonathan Tucker was on form to deny Suburbs until the 65th minute when Lennon Whewell finished from close-range. It was soon 4-0 two minutes later, following a Trevin Myers header. In the last minute, Jay Anderson added the fifth and final goal. Nelson go into the quarterfinal draw, while Northern to travel to Nelson again this coming weekend in the league, where at least they will be able to fly, as the Cup in the earlier rounds is self-funded. The Dunedin City Royals also fell at the fourth round stage when they suffered a comprehensive 9-0 defeat at the hands of Cashmere Tech at Tahuna Park. Zander Edwards scored a first half hat-trick, his third on 40 minutes was superbly struck bending his shot into the top corner giving keeper Alex Boomer no chance. It was 4-0 at the break and ex-Northern player Rory Hibbert made it 5- 0 when Garbhan Coughlan threaded a pass through the Royals defence for Hibbert to score after 52 minutes. The goal of the match was a beautifully struck 20 yard free kick from Edy Belingher on 76 minutes. — Neville Watson
