The Bay had now set the tone for the day's theme of home triumphs and those kicking off later were all too happy to follow in their footsteps, starting with Wellington and Waitakere.
After an underwhelming opening to their title defence, reigning champions Wellington appear to have found their feet under new coach Jose Figueira and that was further underlined by a dominant scoreline against Southern United, who remain the only side without a win.
Tom Jackson did most of the damage at David Farrington Park with a hat-trick and it was the striker who got the ball rolling just past the half hour, firing in the rebound after an Andy Bevin shot. There was no further scoring in the remainder of the half but the net was bulging again soon after the restart through a tidy turn and finish from Nicolas Zambrano.
With their confidence surely low after a string of disappointing results, it looked like there was little chance of Southern getting back into the contest but, to their great credit, Paul O'Reilly's side hit back almost immediately when Andy Mulligan pounced on an error by defender Guillermo Moretti. Wellington goalkeeper Scott Basalaj was then forced to make a stunning save to deny Danny Ledwith as Southern searched for an equaliser.
The capital men were able to get their two-goal cushion back though when Jackson slotted home a pass from a quick free kick with just under 20 minutes remaining and he completed his hat-trick from the spot in additional time after being felled by goalkeeper Liam Little.
There were less goals at Fred Taylor Park but Waitakere won't be bothered about that after carving out a crucial win that lifts them to second-equal on the ladder, locked on points with Auckland and Wellington. The only goal of the game out west arrived on 31 minutes through Dan Morgan - who skippered Birkenhead United to a Chatham Cup success over the winter - after good work down the left by Dylan Stansfield had created the chance.
Stansfield nearly extended the lead when hitting the cross bar just before the break while Morgan could have had a second in the closing moments of the match but was denied by goalkeeper Danny Knight. Canterbury almost got on level terms in the 50th minute but Waitakere custodian Pirmin Strasser dived low to save Aaron Clapham's free kick and the visitors almost pinched a late equaliser when Aaron Spain struck the post but Waitakere were able to close out the victory.
There was still plenty of drama reserved for the day's late kick off and televised game at Bill McKinlay Park in Auckland, Eastern Suburbs having to hold off a spirited challenge from Tasman United before triumphing 4-2. Suburbs' Sean Lovemore and Tasman's Tinashe Marowa swapped early goals, both capitalising on sloppy pieces of defending.
All Whites defender Luke Adams restored the home side's lead around the hour mark, showing great reactions to turn home a deflected Moses Dyer shot, but Suburbs passed up the opportunity to make it three when Henry Chikere saw his spot kick well saved by Coey Turipa in the 79th minute.
The Tasman player who had given away the penalty for handball, Daniel Allan, was then in the action at the other end just minutes later when rising gracefully to head home for 2-2. It looked like Suburbs would be made to pay for their miss from the spot but Lovemore had other ideas, showing a cool head to draw Turipa in a one-on-one situation and tuck the ball under him with only a couple of minutes on the clock. Dyer then put the icing on the cake at 4-2 by cutting into the area and smashing past Turipa in time added on.
Stirling Sports Premiership - Round Seven
Hawke's Bay United 2 (Angus Kilkolly 16', Facundo Barbero 81')
Wellington Phoenix U-20 0
HT: 1-0
Team Wellington 4 (Tom Jackson 35', 72', pen 90' + 2', Nicolas Zambrano 50')
Southern United 1 (Andy Mulligan 54')
HT: 1-0
Waitakere United 1 (Dan Morgan 31')
Canterbury United 0
HT: 1-0
Eastern Suburbs 4 (Sean Lovemore 5', 88', Luke Adams 59', Moses Dyer 90' + 2')
Tasman United 2 (Tinashe Marowa 20', Daniel Allan 83')
HT: 1-1
