KEY POINTS:
As a Christmas feast, the fans could not have wished for more.
But tonight's Kiwitea St battle with arch-rivals Waitakere United is a festive occasion Auckland City players and coaches would have happily done without.
Their plea to Football Championship manager Glyn Taylor to delay the game until
next year fell on deaf ears.
So stand-in coaches Craig Alexander and Aaron McFarland will wait until the last possible minute before handing out the shirts to City's starting XI.
"It will be a bit of a battle for sure," said Alexander, who must get his players up just five days after their 5th-6th play-off at the Fifa Club World Cup in Japan.
"It is like being asked to do an ironman and then run two marathons in just over a week.
"It is no reflection on Waitakere. I can understand they would want to play.
"It was Glyn Taylor's call and we will front up."
City have never lost to Waitakere on the field.
Their only loss came in round one this season, when it was ruled City had played an ineligible player and were docked the three points earned in a hard-fought 1-0 win.
Now, with Waitakere atop the table and 10 points ahead of their rivals, City must win or risk falling out of title contention.
It's a true six-point affair for both teams, who face the ever-present threat from YoungHeart Manawatu.
Neither will be at full strength tonight.
James Pritchett, Riki Van Steeden, Bryan Little and reserve goalkeeper Richard Gillespie are out for City, and others are nursing knocks and bruises after their Japanese sojourn, in which they lost to Al Ahli 2-0 and Jeonbuk Motors 3-0.
Players who saw little or no game time there will be expected to turn in a big effort.
United coach Steve Cain will be without captain Danny Hay, Sam and Joel Mathews, Hone Fowler and Jason Rowley and has Jeff Campbell still on the very doubtful list.
He has also lost Hay's long-time centre-back partner George Suri, who is back in the Solomon Islands.
Cain acknowledges there are plusses and minuses in having to play a City side on the rebound.
"It could work out either way. They [City] could be sharp and on a high given the standard of games they have been playing," said Cain.
"I think they did well against quality opposition and will take something from that.
"A lot will depend on how they turn up. It is a big time test for us.
"We are leading the league because we haven't been conceding goals," said Cain. "That makes up for the number of goals we should have, but haven't, been scoring."
It promises to be a classic confrontation between two teams in which no love has ever been lost.
