Soccer: Table toppers have positions to themselves

It is business as usual as the New Zealand Football Championship teams head into the Christmas break.

Auckland City and Waitakere have the top of the table to themselves, Team Wellington are back to their losing best and South African strikers Keryn Jordan and Grant Young are making the golden boot race their own.

As an added extra in the last games before the festivities, new signings Allan Pearce (Waitakere) and Kris Bright (Canterbury United) wasted no time by scoring on debut.

Auckland City shrugged off their late arrival in the Capital and the howling wind to quickly plunge Team Wellington into despair.

Young, on to a good ball from captain Neil Sykes, scored inside three minutes and again late in the spell to give the visitors a halftime lead.

Chad Coombes made it 3-0 as City again took a flyer at the start of the second spell.

The home side's only success came courtesy of a Sykes' own goal in the 81st minute but, virtually from the restart, Young completed his hat-trick to drop Team Wellington back to the bottom of the table, where they have been for much of the season.

City ended the day, and the first half of the season, at the top of the table - one point clear of Waitakere who are three ahead Otago United.

Canterbury travelled north with a chance of going ahead of Otago with a win over Waitakere at Trusts Stadium yesterday.

They had an early chance when Bright tested goalkeeper Simon Eaddy with a left-foot attempt after 90s - following a right wing corner they had won from the kick-off.

The home side had a couple of early half chances then went ahead after 14 minutes when, from a short corner, the ball was played in and Jordan squeezed between two defenders to head home at the near post.

Within two minutes they, and he, had their second, when he got into the penalty area, dummied, turned and fired in a great all-in-one shot which gave goalkeeper Jordan Buchanan no chance.

The visitors rallied and got back into the game in the 23rd minute when the Waitakere defence were caught napping and early substitute Justin Lucas had an easy strike.

Stung, the home side attacked and scored a goal, which will go down, surely, as the fluke of the season.

Under pressure, the Canterbury defence attempted to clear. Figuring he was about to be hit by the ball, Hoani Edwards turned and was hit on the back. When he looked around he was able watch in delight/embarrassment as the ball looped back over Buchanan and into the goal.

The first-half scoring was completed half a minute into added time when Canterbury got deep and had three shots in succession before, from a Stuart Kelly miscue, the ball fell for Bright who pushed it home.

The only two goals in the second spell were well-taken by Pearce who has quickly shown his talent.

In the 58th minute he ran wide on to a ball from Sean Douglas, beat three attempted Jeff Fleming tackles, held the ball up and, with Buchanan beaten, slotted the simplest of goals.

Two minutes later Pearce again showed his class when he ran on to a good ball, drew Buchanan from his line and fired a clinical shot home.

It was a sound all-round effort from Waitakere in shrugging off their run of outs, which had earned them only two points in their previous four outings.

They joined City (twice) and Otago United in scoring five goals in a game. The match tally of seven was the biggest of the season.

Gone from Waitakere was some of the uncertainty, which marred recent efforts. They were more authoritative and seemed determined to stick to a game plan.

Central defenders Dean Tallentire and Matt Cunneen were again assured. Chris Jackson, Edwards and later Hiroaki Tanaka made the midfield their own and up front Pearce and Jordan clicked with good support from Joe Edwards.

Canterbury struggled to match that determination, although Bright showed some good touches and looks set to become a key in their drive for a top three finish.

The next matches will be played on January 4-5 with Auckland City in Napier and Waitakere home to Waikato FC.