Waitakere maintain edge over NZFC rivals
Waitakere welcomed Auckland City for the top of the table New Zealand Football Championships encounter from the comfort of their stunning new surroundings at Douglas Field in Henderson and then sent them home pointless with a hard fought one nil victory.
The fans took the chance to see the new stadium and a mouth watering clash too with a tick over 2,000 turning up on a beautifully warm and still Auckland day.
Waitakere dominated the opening 45 minutes with Danny Hay, Jonathan Perry and Neil Emblen providing a solid foundation at the back, mopping up the incessant long ball football played in towards Grant Young and Keryn Jordan, the latter making his first start in some months after battling melanoma.
Chris Bale and Paul Seaman enjoyed the edge in a tough midfield battle while Benjamin Totori was his usual lightening self on his return from international duty with the Solomon Islands and Allan Pearce was a threat every time he was in the game.
The opening goal from Pearce was a treat with a great through ball beating the offside trap as Pearce held his run perfectly before setting off on a 40 metre journey into the penalty area before calmly slotting home past Tamati Williams in the Auckland goal in the 19th minute.
There were other chances to Totori and notably Paul Seaman with a majestic header in the shadow of halftime that had Williams at full stretch but the two bitter rivals went to the break with juts Pearce’s goal separating them.
The second half saw both sides pushing, Waitakere for a killer second goal and Auckland to get back in the game. Koprivcic drew a good save from Williams while Lee’s free kick was comfortably dealt with by Richard Gillespie, selected ahead of Simon Eaddy in the home goal.
Just past the hour mark a quite brilliant weaving run from Chris Bale left four Auckland players in his wake before he released Allan Pearce to shoot against the base of the post and away across an open goal.
From that point Auckland began to press searching for a possible season saving equalizer and Waitakere sat back and soaked up the pressure. For all their possession through a 20 minute spell though Auckland could not find a way past the red and white rearguard.
They came closest in the final seconds when Neil Emblen rescued off the line when Auckland looked sure to score, the second time he had done so in the match as he earlier had saved Gillespie’s blushes when the keeper spilled under pressure from Keryn Jordan.
But it was to be in vain as Auckland players and fans alike held their heads at the final whistle, knowing they might have lost their chance to win the round robin, home advantage in the Grand Final and with it a guaranteed O-League berth for next season.
Waitakere United now lead the NZFC on goal difference with a game in hand on Auckland City and Team Wellington. Auckland cannot afford another slip with Wellington just three points back in third and also with a superior goal difference over the defending champions.
Waitakere United 1 (A Pearce 19th),
Auckland City 0
Waitakere United
1 Richard Gillespie, 2 Jonathan Perry, 5 Danny Hay, 6 Darren Bazeley, 9 Benjamin Totori (12 Roy Krishna 68th), 10 Allan Pearce, 11 Neil Sykes, 13 Daniel Koprivcic (8 Commins Menapi 66th), 15 Chris Bale (17 Jake Butler), 16 Neil Emblen, 33 Paul Seaman
Auckland City
12 Tamati Williams, 5 Ben Sigmund, 6 Ki-Hyung Lee, 7 James Pritchett, 8 Chad Coombes, 10 Grant Young, 14 Keryn Jordan, 18 Jakub Sinkora (27 John Niyonsaba 79th), 19 Salesh Kumar, 20 Greg Uhlmann, 21 Riki Van Steeden (23 Chan Goo Yoon 45)