In total there were 10 yellows and two reds in a game which was played in good spirit.
Canterbury coach Keith Braithwaite, while happy with the win and in being only the second team other than Auckland City to win at Fred Taylor Park this season, said the gloss was taken off the victory with the cards.
"It killed the game, of course it did," said Braithwaite.
"A performance like that [the referee] takes some of the gloss from it."
Indeed, Braithwaite was a little critical of his own players for not making more of their advantage.
"We are a bit naive. We did not hurt them enough. But it was a good team performance and it was a tremendous effort to get three points.
"It is always hard here. They [Waitakere] are so quick but to bounce back the way we did after going down that goal early showed our character."
Waitakere needed just four minutes to take the lead when Roy Krishna flicked the ball on for Ryan de Vries who nodded his powerful header home.
The reply was only three minutes in coming. Left back Daniel Glozier played a ball in and Canterbury captain Aaron Clapham got his foot to it and guide it past Danny Robinson.
For the next hour, soccer was the secondary consideration with players booked willy nilly which led to conservative play and few scoring opportunities.
With that lop-sided advantage, the visitors had their chances but golden boot leader George Slefendorfas got no change from Tim Myers.
It was not until the 78th minute that Canterbury went ahead when substitute Ken Yamamoto played a ball in from the left and Slefendorfas got free, thrust his leg high and managed to steer it home.
Waitakere forced a couple of late corners but it was a lost cause.
Waitakere coach Neil Emblen was gobsmacked by what he had seen and in knowing he will have to go into their last game, at home to YoungHeart Manawatu on April 8 without McKenzie, Cunneen and Chris Bale (who collected his fourth yellow of the season).
"That first booking for Cunneen was a disgrace," said Emblen.
"Now we have to pick ourselves up. We now need to win our semifinal and then the grand final if we are to rescue our season."
Elsewhere, Auckland City continued their unbeaten run with a solid 3-0 away win over Otago United, Hawkes Bay United came from behind to beat Waikato FC 3-2 and Team Wellington poured on the second-half pressure to beat YoungHeart Manawatu 6-0.
