Kaeden ATKINS

Welcome to the final home game of what has been a long and tiring season. We started our first pre-season session on 25 January, after 40-odd games and well over 100 training sessions we finally enter the home straight. The player's energy, enthusiasm and work ethic has been exemplary throughout the year. It is really important that we finish off the last two games with maximum effort and drive, if we can achieve that, I’m sure we will all look back on this season as a tremendously successful one.

I need to personally take this opportunity to thank all of the support staff and club members that have helped out this season. I think the skipper said it best after the Birkenhead United game when he spoke about the selfless work people put into the club to ensure that the players and myself can focus all of our attention on the football itself. It doesn’t go unnoticed and we are all very grateful. We come into today's game off the back of a really positive run of form. It’s amazing how quickly momentum can turn in this game and we are defiantly riding a good wave of it at present. However, we are equally aware of how quickly it can turn back against us if we lose focus. Every game requires us to re-earn the right to play and today’s will be no different! Welcome to Bill and his Napier City Rovers side. City Rovers is a club that holds a special place in my own family’s history. My football journey has many parallels with dad’s and to be hosting the club he invested so much in as a young coach is a really special opportunity. We will be expecting a tough challenge today and while unfortunately there is no trophy up for grabs, hopefully, a few of us can exorcise some demons from 2019! Enjoy the game! Wilky