Football: Team Wellington too strong for Wanderers

Team Wellington extended their lead at the top of the ASB Premiership on Sunday with a come-from-behind 4-1 over Wanderers SC at Bill McKinlay Park in Auckland.

They were forced to come from behind to do it though as Wanderers centre back Adam Mitchell had given Darren Bazeley's team a third minute lead but the league leaders grew into the contest and were level at halftime through a stunning 45th minute strike from Sean Morris.

With Team Wellington having won five of their seven starts to date, they played with confidence in possession after their slow start and several good scoring opportunities went unconverted as the first half wound down before Morris' touch of class.

Matt Calcott's side put their foot on the throat of their younger opponents in the second half as goals to Patrick Fleming, Nico Bechar and Bill Robertson ended any doubt about the destination of the three points.

Calcott said his team's tendency to start slowly away from David Farrington Park was again evident on Sunday but was proud of the way the team responded to going behind even without the services of several players including the suspended Luis Corrales and Jarrod Smith.

"It's been a factor when we've been away from home and today was no different," Calcott said.

"There was three or four changes today and a few guys took a while to get into the game but it was an excellent second half.

"In that crucial period just before halftime we got a goal and it gave us that confidence going into halftime that we could turn it around."

Team Wellington's recovery was punctuated by two excellent strikes, the first by Morris - which pulled the visitors level - a wonderful curling effort that left Damien Hirst with no chance before Bechar's important goal which gave the visitors a 3-1 advantage mid-way through the second half.

Calcott says Bechar's effort was key and the midfielder has been playing well in recent weeks after settling into life in Wellington and his goal has helped ensure the team can now enjoy their break before attacking the second half of the season.

"It was a great goal by Nico and that's been coming for a few weeks. He's a great dribbler and he's the kind of footballer that people like to see. I was actually yelling out to him to pass and in typical fashion he's put in the bottom corner."

"We can go away and have a good break now and re-energise and get back into it after Christmas."

Meanwhile, Bazeley was left frustrated by a performance which saw momentum shift to their opponents after a strong opening by his team following their victory over Canterbury United in their previous match.

"We got the lead and we were well worth that for the first half and had the edge for a while but they just kept coming and coming," Bazeley said.

"We really needed to get into halftime 1-0 up and then we could have settled a bit but they scored just before halftime and it gave them a boost."

"Second half, Team Wellington just got more and more into the game and they've got some good players and eventually they scored those goals so it was disappointing to end up 4-1 when we led for 45 minutes."

"In those key moments we've not quite been at a high enough level to either stop that goal or go and score a goal ourselves."