KEY POINTS:
Victories thousands of kilometres apart on Saturday were perfect dress rehearsals as Waitakere United and Auckland City set their sights on Wednesday's showdown of the season at Trusts Stadium.
City beat New Caledonia's AS Mont Dore 2-0 in Noumea in the much-heralded Oceania Champions League opener while, at Trusts Stadium, Waitakere overcame a hesitant start to boot home a convincing 5-1 win over Otago United in their New Zealand Football Championship clash.
Paul Urlovic scored both for City in their crucial O-League game. The first, after 19 minutes, from open play after continued good work on the right from James Pritchett and a looping header from Grant Young; the second, 12 minutes later, from the penalty spot after Young had been dragged down by the goalkeeper, subsequently sent off.
Down on attacking firepower, the home side, who had been denied an early equaliser by a point-blank Ross Nicholson save, rarely threatened and allowed City to leave something in the tank in looking ahead to Wednesday.
Waitakere, under the tutelage of assistant coach Kevin Hagan and with Danny Hay a surprise starter, were tentative early against a struggling Otago side.
There was a reluctance to look forward even with an attacking formation. There were some hopeful long range shots but little else in the first 30 minutes.
But, after Jesse Molloy had barely tested Michael Utting in the Waitakere goal with a weak shot, the home side lifted their game.
With the shackles off, they broke the deadlock when Daniel Kopricvic tapped home after 38 minutes and had a second in stoppage time when goalkeeper Peter Abbott threw his hands at a ball pulled back from the goal-line by Commins Menapi and steered it into his own goal.
That 2-0 became 3-0 four minutes after the restart when Prince Quansah got deep and was brought down by Molloy. Allan Pearce booted home from the spot.
A well-struck Jeff Campbell right wing corner presented Kopricvic with a simple far post header for 4-0 inside 55 minutes. He completed his hat-trick with a well-taken 74th minute effort.
The visitors got a lucky consolation four minutes from time when Andy Coburn, at least two metres offside, beat Utting from close range.
Canterbury's fading playoff hopes were further dashed when they went down 3-1 at home to second-placed YoungHeart Manawatu who led 1-0 at halftime after Hayden Laird had scored for the visitors and Stu Kelly had missed a penalty for Canterbury.
Manawatu stretched their lead to 3-0 with goals from Ian Sandbrook and Alick Maemae before substitute Greg Draper grabbed his first goal at this level with a stoppage time strike to hand the home side a late consolation.
There was real jubilation at Waikato Stadium yesterday as Waikato FC broke through for their first win of the season. Stu Wilson goals in the 12th and 90th minutes got them home 2-0 over Hawkes Bay United and away from the bottom of the table.
