Soccer: Early goal sets the tone

Waitakere United's Roy Krishna scored in just 28 seconds. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Three-goal winning margins for defending champions Waitakere United, minor premiers Auckland City and last season's wooden spooners YoungHeart Manawatu sparked life into the opening round of the new ASB Premiership season.

In a replay of last season's grand final, Waitakere beat Team Wellington 3-0 at Fred Taylor Park for another clear-cut win but that margin was the only similarity.

Team Wellington had only Luke Rowe from the team who played at Trusts Stadium in yesterday's starting line-up whereas Waitakere had seven of their team in action.

The visitors' cause wasn't helped when they went a goal down after just 28s when Roy Krishna burst clear and buried the ball from long range.

"That early goal was a real sucker punch," said Team Wellington coach Matt Calcott. "You could see from the start the difference in the two teams."

Krishna won, and David Mulligan converted a 64th-minute penalty and 15 minutes later Allan Pearce provided the finish to a well-worked goal.

Earlier, YoungHeart Manawatu upset Otago United 3-0 with Tomas Mosquera scoring a hat-trick. For Hawkes Bay United, Sean Lovemore scored both second-half goals to beat Waikato FC 2-0 and joined Manawatu as first-round away winners.

On Saturday, Auckland City cruised to 3-0 in the opening 38 minutes, gave up a goal either side of halftime before finishing strongly to beat Canterbury United 5-2.

Auckland City will continue to build for the Club World Cup with a game against the Wellington Phoenix A side at Kiwitea St on Wednesday.