Soccer: Manawatu can win with week to spare

Manawatu can win the national soccer league with a round to spare if they beat Auckland City at Kiwitea St in Auckland next Saturday.

The Aucklanders beat Hawkes Bay 6-0 in Auckland on Saturday but Manawatu came from behind to beat Waitakere 3-2 in Palmerston North yesterday to retain a one-point edge over Auckland with two rounds to go.

League victory carries with it automatic entry into the Oceania qualifying tournament for the World Club Cup at North Harbour in May, with the chance to advance to the finals in Japan with millions of dollars at stake.

Waitakere appeared to be doing their cross-town rivals a favour when they raced to a 2-0 lead over Manawatu with only 22 minutes gone. Big George Suri headed in a free kick in the fourth minute and then Shannon Cole buried a left-foot volley from 18m.

The visitors deserved that halftime lead but Manawatu, as they have so often, stormed back thanks to their Solomon Islands striker, Commons Menapi. In the 63rd minute Nathan Hill split the defence, Benjamin Totori provided the touch and Menapi did the rest.

Campbell Banks, who had come on as a substitute, scored the equaliser in the 83rd minute and minutes later put Menapi through for the winner. It was a cruel blow for the visitors, who now find themselves level on points with Wellington in the last playoff spot.

Wellington came back from 2-0 down in Christchurch to beat Canterbury 3-2, thanks to an injury-time goal by Graham Little. Waitakere meet Wellington at home next Sunday. In the other game yesterday, Otago beat Waikato 2-0 at Rotorua.

There were plenty of positives for Auckland in their 6-0 defeat of bottom club Hawkes Bay at Kiwitea St on Saturday.

Perhaps the most significant was the appearance of star striker Keryn Jordan from the substitutes bench with 20 minutes to go. Jordan is recovering from an operation on his leg that has kept him off the field for several weeks.

He didn't score, but he showed all his skills and headed a Grant Young cross on to the bar for Chad Coombes to score from the rebound. After the game, he said his leg felt a little stiff but had given him no trouble.

It was one of those games Auckland were expected to win easily but found themselves frustrated for long periods by the Bay youngsters, who defied the odds until the closing stages.

It was 2-0 by the 26th minute, with goals from Liam Mulrooney and Grant Young, but Auckland didn't score again until the 80th minute, when Jonathan Smith made up for some earlier misses by heading home a Neil Sykes corner.

Three goals in the final four minutes produced the expected margin but rather devalued the efforts of Bay's Jason Hayne and goalkeeper Mitchell O'Brien. Outstanding for Auckland was Young, whose running off the ball produced a string of chances.