Four weeks after losing 2-1 at home to Canterbury United, Waitakere face the same opponent a week tomorrow when they go head-to-head in the first leg of their league semifinal.
In beating YoungHeart Manawatu 6-1 yesterday in their last regular-season game, Waitakere confirmed their third-place finish and a semifinal battle with Keith Braithwaite's Canterbury.
Auckland City, assured of first place no matter the result on tomorrow's trip to the artificial pitch in Christchurch, and Team Wellington, now certain to finish fourth again no matter the result of their away game with Hawkes Bay United, will meet in the other semifinal with Wellington hosting the first leg.
As a warm-up for the clash with Canterbury, yesterday's win had its moments, helped with Rory Turner's opening goal just 1m 24s into the game. Relishing his first start for United, Turner, 17, did not have to wait long to celebrate his first goal at this level. In the dying seconds of stoppage time at the end of the first spell he had his second as Waitakere took a cosy 5-1 lead in a first-half blitz.
In between times Allan Pearce too helped himself to two with Ryan de Vries capping a dominant display with a 29th minute cracker - a first-time shot from the edge of the penalty area.
