KEY POINTS:
The big three have sorted themselves out as the race for the New Zealand Football Championship hits the home straight.
A thumping 5-0 win for YoungHeart Manawatu over Team Wellington yesterday and Hawkes Bay United's upset 2-1 win over Canterbury United 24 hours earlier have left Waitakere United, Manawatu and Auckland City to chase the spoils.
Waitakere retain their four-point lead following their 4-2 win over Waikato FC on Saturday but only after they were again threatened by the speed wobbles.
Ahead 3-0 after a three-goal burst in eight minutes, Waitakere were cruising.
Then came the horror show as Waikato hit back with two for 3-2 at halftime. Memories of recent white flag efforts when they have surrendered seemingly unbeatable leads to drop points or the match - came flooding back and remained until stoppage time at the end of the second spell when substitute Daniel Koprivcic pounced to provide the finish for 4-2 after good build-up play from Pedro Santos and Commins Menapi.
For the opening 25 minutes Waitakere turned in as good as they have at any stage this season. Through Allan Pearce and Santos they played with width, stretched the Waikato defence and were justly rewarded.
"We lost our way a little at that stage," said United coach Steve Cain. "But it was more a case of individual errors rather than the team switching off that cost us those two goals.
"I thought those first 25 minutes were our best 25 minutes of the season."
Waikato FC coach Roger Wilkinson conceded his team had been hurt on the flanks and forced him to make an earlier substitution than he wanted.
"I thought we showed some character," said Wilkinson. "Waitakere played very well but for a young team rebuilding, I thought we did okay. Losing Ross McKenzie to Singapore hasn't helped.
"Even at 3-2, we created one or two half chances."
Auckland City kept themselves in the hunt with an assured 2-1 win over Otago United in Dunedin.
James Pritchett gave the visitors their 23rd-minute lead which Keryn Jordan stretched to 2-0 on the hour with a looping header.
The home side continued to battle but were not rewarded until the 85th minute when Cameron Richardson scored from a rebound after City goalkeeper Ross Nicholson had save the initial shot.
Encouraged, United went close to snatching a late draw which would have denied City maximum points.
Hawkes Bay were handed a flying start at Park Island with David Geary smacking home from outside the penalty area inside two minutes. Brent Fisher equalised in the 35th minute but the final say was with the cellar-dwellers who grabbed the 78th minute winner with Chris McIvor providing the finishing touch to a sweeping counter-attack.
Team Wellington, reduced to 10 men after 33 minutes at FMG Stadium yesterday when Roddy Brown was sent off for a second yellow card, were never in it as Manawatu went ahead 2-0 at the break and completed the demolition with two goals in the last two minutes with goals from Benjamin Totori and Adam Cowan.
