Waitakere United 2
Waikato FC 0
KEY POINTS:
Waitakere United continue to drive the New Zealand Football Championship stake further into the ground. Yesterday's 2-0 home win over 10-man Waikato FC in a catch-up game at Trusts Stadium sent them four points clear at the top of the table with a game still in hand.
Even
without the intensity of Saturday's 4-2 win over Auckland City, United always looked likely winners against a Waikato side who played the last hour one short but never gave up.
"Obviously it was disappointing to go down to 10 so early," said philosophical Waikato coach Dave Edmonson. "While it was 11 v 11 we wanted to force them to play at our tempo. I think we did that. But in the end in that situation, the pace of players like Roy Krishna and Benjamin Totori will make the difference.
"But when it was 0-0 I thought we had two or three chances. I was pleased with the effort. Even in the games we have lost, no team has overawed us."
Joel Mathews' sending off for a rash challenge on Jeff Campbell was the turning point but as is often the case, the team at full strength struggled to break down an opposition determined to lift their game.
It was not until the 68th minute that Waitakere broke through to open the scoring. Again, it was Krishna's pace which undid the gritty visitors.
The Fijian international gathered a good through-ball, swept forward, drew goalkeeper Greg Walters and completed the task with an accomplished finish. Six minutes later, and after a plethora of half-decent chances, Totori finally got on the end of a ball from Krishna, out-thought and outpaced the defence and unleashed a net-ripper for 2-0.
"It is always hard against 10," said Waitakere coach Chris Milicich. "They played with a lot of passion and desire. It took us a long time to get that first goal but when we had it I was confident we would get home.
"It is not easy playing two games in three days. We played all right - not as well as we did against Auckland - but we can get a bit better. Our ball speed was flat today."
With just five games to play, time is running out for Waitakere's closest challengers - Hawkes Bay United, Auckland City, YoungHeart Manawatu and Waikato.
Hawkes Bay are at home to Manawatu in Sunday's crucial 11th round match-up while City meet Team Wellington (on Saturday) and Waitakere are away to Canterbury.