Football: Goal salvages City win if not spectacle

Auckland City's Sam Burfoot and Waitakere's Harshae Raniga. Photo/ PHOTOSPORT

It took 93 minutes for yesterday's Super City derby to spring to life, when 18-year old Auckland City substitute David Browne broke Waitakere United hearts with a last-minute winner.

Browne provided a rare moment of inspiration after the dull, frictionless stalemate drifted into injury time, latching onto a long John Irving through ball before coolly slotting home past Waitakere goalkeeper Daniel Robinson.

The 400-odd crowd at Whenuapai were left frustrated for large chunks of the game, which lacked passion, intensity and general entertainment and looked more like a pre-season hitout than one of the biggest games on the domestic calender.

Waitakere set their defensive stall deep to negate Auckland's speedy attack and their game plan spawned a midfield battle that neither side really won.

Auckland dominated possession without breaking Waitakere down and looked defensively vulnerable only from a few set-pieces. Waitakere battled hard in midfield but lacked a cutting edge up front.

Waitakere player-coach Brian Shelley took a gamble by starting Stoke under-21 striker Derice Richards, who arrived in New Zealand at 7pm on Friday night, but his partnership with Adam Dickinson never looked like opening up a solid-looking Auckland back four.

Despite Auckland also struggling to unlock the Waitakere defence, coach Ramon Tribulietx cut a relaxed figure as the clock ticked down, making only one change in the 84th minute to bring on Browne.

The pacey Papua New Guinean youth international made an immediate impact, linking well with Emiliano Tade and Ryan DeVries to create a few late half-chances.

In the end, it took an uncharacteristic Auckland long ball to unlock the Waitakere defence, as Shelley misjudged a defensive header and allowed Browne to sneak in behind.

"I'm glad Ramon put me on. I was dying to get out there," said Browne. "I didn't have much time to get into the game but the through ball from John was spot on. It worked out perfectly. The game was a bit dead for bits, but to come on and score the winner, I'm very happy."

Auckland have made a perfect start to the season with three wins in as many games while Waitakere have one win and a loss.

Shelley saw a lot of positives from the match, especially defensively where he said his side looked structurally sound.

"We're a new team, a new group of players and I thought that, when they had it, we frustrated them quite a lot and dealt with most things they threw at us. We probably didn't create enough to win the game but I'm gutted we didn't take the point away.

"With five minutes to go, we were just looking to hold what we had and take a point. I would have been pleased with that. But Auckland are a quality team and know how to win games.

"It was still a hell of a difference from last season. They were able to open us up pretty easily last year in all the games and it didn't happen today."

In yesterday's other match, Southern United collected their first points of the season, beating Canterbury United 1-0 in Christchurch with a 34th-minute goal from George Milne.

Waitakere United 0
Auckland City 1