Waitakere United have been handed an unexpected chance to join Auckland City at the top of the New Zealand Football Championship.
United go into this evening's clash with Waikato FC three points adrift of City, who were surprisingly upset 4-2 by Napier last night.
Waitakere will be close to full
strength for the match at Trusts Stadium and now have the added incentive of clawing back lost ground over their season-long rivals.
Canterbury United remain on the brink of breaking into the top three despite a disappointing 1-1 home draw against Manawatu yesterday.
After squandering 10 chances in a scoreless first half, Canterbury trailed after a sensational strike from Manawatu skipper Sanjay Singh.
They had to rely on a late Stuart Kelly goal to snatch a share of the points.
Canterbury remained in fourth place but closed the gap to one point on third-placed Otago United, who they play in Christchurch on Sunday.
Otago lost 0-5 to bottom team Wellington in Dunedin yesterday, so Canterbury coach Danny Halligan now regards the draw against Manawatu as "a point gained as opposed to two points lost".
Nevertheless, Canterbury's failure to finish a host of chances left the home side frustrated.
"It's a pretty familiar tone for us for most of the year; we are not converting the opportunities we are creating," Halligan said.
Also of concern to Halligan was the Canterbury casualty list, with strikers Jamie Smith and Kelly suffering "corked thighs" and skipper Ben Sigmund hobbling off in the 67th minute of his comeback game after a hamstring tendon injury.
Halligan considered Canterbury were "well worth our draw" given the injury setbacks.
"It wasn't a great performance from the lads, but they hung in there after we went a goal down after halftime and they showed a lot of courage to get back in the end."
Canterbury dominated the first half but had nothing to show for their labours at the interval.
Smith unlocked the Manawatu defence with his pace and skill, but goalkeeper Richard Gillespie hurled himself at Canterbury's man-of-the-match midfielder, Jeff Fleming, to block a shot and his centre back, Matt Tesar, stopped the rebound.
Gillespie also scrambled away an under-hit shot from Glen Collins, who made a run into the Manawatu box, and both Smith and Jeremy Brockie were astray with handy headers.
Singh shocked the 1000-strong crowd with a stunning goal 53 seconds after the restart.
Canterbury failed to close down the former All White outside their penalty area and Singh rifled a rising 25m shot into the top corner of the net.
Canterbury gave away too much ball in a lacklustre second-half display and missed a sitter when Jamie Duncan failed to connect with a clever cutback from Brockie and Kelly skied a shot over the bar.
Fifth-placed Manawatu seemed set for victory until they were caught napping at a corner in the 78th minute.
Substitute Justin Lucas stroked the corner to Brockie, who flicked it infield for Kelly to glance into the net for his first championship goal.
Duncan twice made timely interventions to deny Manawatu's Brazilian import Luiz Del Monte.
Manawatu coach Colin Tuaa said he was "happy with our performance" but "disappointed we let them score" after his players had "weathered the storm".
- NZPA
Waitakere United have been handed an unexpected chance to join Auckland City at the top of the New Zealand Football Championship.
United go into this evening's clash with Waikato FC three points adrift of City, who were surprisingly upset 4-2 by Napier last night.
Waitakere will be close to full
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