KEY POINTS:
A reshuffled Auckland City head south today for what shapes as a crucial New Zealand Football Championship battle with a Canterbury United who must quickly turn their season around or abandon their playoff hopes.
The replay of last season's grand final, won by City in a dramatic penalty shootout, has plenty of intrigue.
City are without ace goalscorer Keryn Jordan, midfield genius Teruo Iwamoto and rugged defender Riki van Steeden.
Dean Gordon, out of the country last weekend, returns to play at left back, Cole Tinkler joins Paul Seaman and Neil Sykes in the midfield, while up front Ross McKenzie returns to play wide left with Grant Young and Bryan Little making up the strikeforce as Jordan, out because of business commitments and calf/hamstring problems, stays home.
"We don't want to risk Teruo," said City coach Roger Wilkinson. "He has found the hard grounds troublesome and is suffering a little with an ankle injury. Japan [next month's Club World Cup] is his focus."
In another change, Jonathan Smith has been dropped altogether with Sam Wilkinson returning to join Liam Mulrooney on the bench as midfield cover.
Stung when Waikato FC went 2-0 ahead after just 16 minutes last week, Wilkinson is determined there will be no repeat.
"We can't afford to give a team like Canterbury a start," he said. "You never want to be playing catch-up, especially when we have set our goal as coming out of games with a clean sheet."
Defender Ben Sigmund has played a key role in the City defence this season. He faces his toughest test in returning to Christchurch after playing for Canterbury for so long.
Leaders Waitakere United have a rare Saturday home game but one which coach Steve Cain has some apprehension about. They face Hawkes Bay United at Trusts Stadium at the same time as Canterbury and Auckland meet at English Park.
Cain fears his players may struggle to get up for the game after seeing the odds being offered.
"I can't believe it," he said. "Having one team at $1.16 [Waitakere] and the other at $13 in a two-horse race is ridiculous. I'm not happy about that, it sends out the wrong message."
Cain has other concerns.
"We certainly have not hit our straps. I would say we haven't played at better than 50 per cent of what we are capable of.
"There is 50 per cent more to come. That's what is encouraging."
While he will not name his starting XI until closer to kickoff, Cain did say yesterday that Michael Gwyther and Commins Menapi would start.
"We only have a couple of minor niggles so we will be at full strength, or pretty close to it.
"In many ways this shapes as being much the same kind of game as the one last week between Auckland City and Waikato. We all know what happened there.
"We certainly don't want to find ourselves a couple behind and having to come back."
In other round-six action, Team Wellington are at home to a rejuvenated Otago United tonight and Waikato FC, buoyed by last week's effort at Kiwitea St, return to Waikato Stadium tomorrow to face YoungHeart Manawatu, who will be keen to bounce back from their first loss of the season.
