Football: Wellington win frantic encounter

Jake Butler scored against Southern United today. Photo / File

Two late goals have seen Team Wellington kick off their ASB Premiership campaign with a frantic 3-2 win over WaiBOP United.

Down 2-1 with just ten minutes left in the contest, goals to Ben Harris and Saul Halpin saw the visitors go home with three points from a wet Gower Park in Hamilton.

WaiBOP had crafted their lead with some fine attacking play, going ahead in the 15th minute via an Adam Luque header from a Marc Evans corner.

Wellington levelled proceedings in the 31st through an adept toe-poked finish from Andy Bevin after he was put through on goal by Mario Barcia.

WaiBOP continued to look dangerous though, and Mark Jones looked to have scored a vital goal in the 79th minute, being set up by Ryan Tinsley before cutting inside James Musa and slotting a right-footed strike past Scott Basalaj in the Wellington goal.

However, directly from the resulting kick-off, WaiBOP custodian Zac Speedy failed to deal with a low cross, with Harris squeezing the ball home following a goalmouth scramble to again tie the contest at 2-2.

Wellington would find the winner in the 89th minute, when Luis Corrales' shot was saved by the legs of Speedy, with the rebound falling straight into the path of Halpin who slotted it home to secure the victory.

Elsewhere, Waitakere United bounced back from last week's 4-0 defeat to Auckland City by beating Southern United. A fourth minute goal by Craig Wylie after a goalkeeping error gave the visitors an early buffer, before Jake Butler slotted home a 56th minute penalty on the rebound after seeing his first effort saved.

Also posting their first win of the season were Canterbury United, who put in a strong second half display to sweep aside the Wellington Phoenix Reserves 3-0.

Veteran striker Michael White opened Canterbury's account in the second half after a defensive mistake, and he made it two in the 75th minute once being set up by Aaron Clapham. The comfortable win for Willy Gerdsen's side was then wrapped up by Guatemalan striker Juan Chang with ten minutes to play.