Auckland City held out a late-charging Otago United to win 3-2 and extend their lead atop the national soccer league. Up 3-0 two minutes into the second spell, goals to the home side through Francesco Caruso and Blair Scoullar made for a bright finish to the New Zealand Football Championshipmatch at the Caledonian Ground in Dunedin.
Otago coach and former Irish international Terry Phelan made his first playing appearance for the club but took himself off at halftime, frustrated at his team's lack of application in the first spell. Down 0-2 at the break, they conceded a soft goal from a goalmouth scramble but struck back almost immediately through US import Caruso, off a cross from Michael Eisenhut.
Otago's Andy Coburn was deemed to have been brought down in the penalty box by James Pritchett in the 63rd minute. The penalty was converted by Scoullar, only after pouncing on the rebound after goalkeeper Richard Gillespie had saved the initial strike.
Otago dominated the closing stages and had an apparent goal to Croydon Wheeler disallowed due to an earlier infringement. However, Otago assistant coach Malcolm Fleming said justice was done by the scoreline.
"We were unlucky with that disallowed goal but I thought we were fortunate to get the penalty before that," Fleming said. "All in all it's a fair result. They dominated us in the first half and it just took us too long to pull our socks up."
Auckland City's first two goals came in the latter part of the first half, to Keryn Jordan and Paul Seaman, capitalising on a wealth of possession. Fifth-placed Otago, who upset Waitakere United last weekend, may drop down the table, depending on results of the other three games today.
