Soccer: Waitakere stay top as goals rain down

Ivan Vicelich led Auckland to a 5-0 win. Photo / Greg Bowker

Three teams posted five goals in one-sided national soccer league victories on a wet weekend of action but all would happily trade positions with Waitakere United, whose relatively quiet 2-0 win over Canterbury United at Christchurch yesterday keeps their perfect record intact for the Christmas break.

A Roy Krishna penalty and a 35th-minute strike from Chris Bale were enough for Waitakere to post a comfortable but unspectacular victory over Canterbury that maintained their eight-point lead at the top of the league.

Auckland romped to a 5-0 win over Hawkes Bay on Saturday, and Team Wellington thumped Otago United by the same scoreline yesterday, while bottom of the table Manawatu ambushed Waikato FC 5-2 for their first win of the season.

Wellington's victory moved them to 13 points, one point ahead of a resurgent Auckland in third.

Canterbury hang on to fourth ahead of Hawkes Bay, Waikato and Otago.

Hat-trick hero Michael White was the inspiration behind Manawatu's upset victory, netting in the ninth and 29th minutes, either side of a Milos Nikolic equaliser, to fire the home side to a first half lead at Palmerston North.

Dale Higham extended the lead and despite a red card to stand-in captain Colin Falvey, 10-man Manawatu were on target again through White and an influential Jason Hayne.

Sam Margetts netted a late goal but it was little consolation for Waikato.

Auckland's Adam McGeorge also registered a hat-trick. He scored the only goal of the first half, added a deflected second in the 66th minute, and completed the rout from the penalty spot in the 87th minute. Stu Kelly notched his first goal for Auckland as did substitute Andrew Milne.

Wellington subs Hicham Kamri and Emiliano Tade provided late goals again this week, but by the time Kamri struck a double and Tade made the most of a poor clearance, the damage had already been done at Wellington.

John Sutherland and Darren Cheriton scored in quick succession midway through the first half to take control of the match while a red card to Otago's Andy Coburn when the score was 3-0 ended Otago's chances.

The league resumes on January 8.

* Waitakere United ended a two-year run of finals defeats to claim the national youth league title with a 2-0 win over Canterbury United at Christchurch's Linfield Park yesterday thanks to goals from Zane Sole (penalty) and Tom Davis.

- NZPA