Waitakere 2
Wellington 1
Waitakere made the most of Auckland City's absence at the World Club Cup by taking over from their rivals at the top of the New Zealand Football Championship with a 2-1 win yesterday over Wellington United at Fred Taylor Park.
The win moves them two points clear and they could make that five points next Sunday when they play Hawkes Bay in Napier because Auckland City will not be back from Abu Dhabi in time to play their NZFC fixture against Manawatu at Kiwitea St.
Auckland City face a packed schedule to make up the games they will have in hand while also fulfilling their commitments to the O-League.
For half a game Waitakere looked likely to completely dominate Wellington as they spread the ball wide. As it was, they scored only twice in the space of a couple of minutes midway through the half.
In the 23rd minute Brent Fisher chipped a delicate cross over the defence from the right and Neil Sykes was on hand to score. The Wellington defence had barely decided whom to blame when Fisher repeated the process from the other side and Allan Pearce had an easy tap-in. It could have been 4-0 in the next five minutes but for some brilliant goalkeeping by James Bannatyne. First he managed to turn away a fierce drive by Neil Emblen, then he repeated the effort to a Benji Totori shot.
Just before the break came a clash that altered the game. Waitakere player-coach Neil Emblen hurt his knee in a skirmish that led to a freekick. Andy Barron's kick was saved by Danny Robinson but Emblen did not return for the second half and Waitakere were not the same without him.
In the 55th minute Wellington had the ball in the net as Barron followed up a Bryan Little freekick that rebounded off the underside of the bar but he was ruled offside.
At the other end, Bannatyne's heroics continued, aided by some poor Waitakere finishing. In the 77th minute the big goalie was lucky when a fierce drive by Jake Butler hit his trailing leg and stayed out.
The game was thrown open in the 82nd minute when Chris Davies scored for Wellington in a goalmouth scramble after a corner.
The closing stages were dominated by referee Anthony Riley. He gave a straight red card to Waitakere's Jeremy Christie in the 83rd minute for a dangerous tackle and sent off Wellington's Cole Petherley five minutes later for a second yellow card offence.
In other games, Otago beat Waikato 1-0 at Ngaruawahia and Manawatu beat Hawkes Bay 1-0 in Palmerston North.
