KEY POINTS:
It promises to be the defining week of the season for the New Zealand Football Championship and O-League heavyweights.
From tomorrow's Auckland City v Waitakere United stand-off at Kiwitea St through to next Sunday's round 19 NZFC matches in Auckland and Mt Maunganui, the stakes are high.
In between the much-anticipated domestic action come the Tuesday and Friday O-League games with New Caledonian champions AS Mont Dore, with the Fifa Club World Cup incentive hopefully still up for grabs.
They meet Waitakere on Tuesday and Auckland City on Friday.
Before they go head-to-head with the New Caledonians at Fred Taylor Park, Waitakere coach Steve Cain and his players will hope to chase a first [on-field] win over local rivals City at Kiwitea St.
They have had a win apiece this season but United's victory came courtesy of a boardroom decision after they had lost 1-0 at Trusts Stadium.
Hurting from that, City dug deep to come from 3-0 down at halftime and break Waitakere hearts with a last-gasp 4-3 win at Kiwitea St.
Handing back the advantage to the opposition has since become almost the norm, as Cain has watched what should have been winning leads blown and points lost, or nearly so.
City have been the biggest beneficiaries of United's brain fade. They took all three from that pre-Christmas slugfest and then a few weeks later came from 2-0 down to finish 2-2 in the O-League clash at Trusts Stadium.
Does that mean City coach Paul Marshall will happily hand his visitors a start at Kiwitea St tomorrow?
"We will give them nothing," said Marshall. "For me we will be going all out from the start. They [Waitakere] have stepped up their act and we have to take them seriously."
Hurting from dropped points in a game they should have won in Napier, Marshall wants his players to become more clinical in their finishing.
"You can create all the chances you like but if you don't put the ball in the back of the net they count for nothing."
He will wait until after fitness tests on Paul Urlovic, Riki Van Steeden and captain Neil Sykes today before naming his team for tomorrow's game.
He will, however, stick with their normal 4-4-2 formation.
YoungHeart Manawatu, now the only other realistic contenders for NZFC honours, have had to surrender home advantage and will travel to Park Island to play Hawkes Bay United. That should prove no impediment to their title hopes.
Shane Rufer and team will be keen to win so they travel north next weekend within sight of Waitakere in a match that could go a long way to finding this season's champion.
In other games this weekend, Canterbury are at home to Otago today and Team Wellington meet the rejuvenated Waikato FC at Newtown Park tomorrow.
