Paul Marshall has made the perfect start to his Waitakere United coaching career after his side pinched a 2-1 win over Auckland City to claim the ASB Charity Cup at Fred Taylor Park today.
New signing Maksim Manko was the hero for the homeside, pouncing on a cross from Allan Pearce in the 89th minute to tap home at the far post and steal the win from the defending champs.
Winning a Super City derby is something that Waitakere have struggled to do in recent years and Marshall will be buoyed on by the fact that his new-look side was able to bowl over the FIFA Club World Cup competitors on his first attempt.
Marshall will also be pleased with the way his new-look squad has come together. Five of his starting eleven were all making their debuts, and with Roy Krishna, Chad Coombes and Ryan de Vries on the sidelines, it looks like squad depth will not be an issue this season.
Auckland dominated the early phases of the match and went 1-0 up after seven minutes, when Ivan Vicelich slipped his marker to fire a bullet header past Daniel Robinson in the Waitakere goal.