Whatever, it didn't matter, for what mattered most was that Hawke's Bay United got crucial away points on the board in the ISPS Handa national football league match at Hamilton's Porritt Stadium yesterday.
Following a scoreless opening round draw at home against Wellington Phoenix Reserves, HBU held-out for 69 minutes after the only goal, scored in a few minutes that left luckless Hamilton Wanderers one-down in more ways than one, on the scoreboard and on the field after winger Bailey Webster was red-carded for kicking Kohei Matsumoto in the aftermath of the goal scored by Hayatu Wakino.
A treble, thus. The first goal of the season, keeping a clean sheet for keeper Ruben Parker without a ball passing the fingertips in the first 180 minutes of his HBU career in the league, and the first win for the United club that made the semifinals last season, and plans to go one better this time.
Parker hadn't had to make a save on the home turf a week six days earlier, and it was much the same yesterday, having to do little more than watch as the most serious bid by the home side saw Xavier Pratt botch a clear shot on goal unsuccessfully going for the equaliser in the second half, the ball heading closer to the hands of the spectators than those of the patient Parker.
The only goal of the game came after 21 minutes when striker Wakino capitalised on some good work through the Waikato midfield and the final pass from Alex Palezevic.
