KEY POINTS:
Auckland City and Waitakere United continued the two-horse battle for the New Zealand Football Championship with wins in trying conditions yesterday.
Auckland beat cellar-dwellers Canterbury United 4-1 at the Croatian Cultural Society ground in Te Atatu while Waitakere travelled to Napier to beat Hawkes Bay United 1-0, thanks to a Commins Menapi goal in the 36th minute.
Auckland, who were playing their 100th game in their three years of existence, retain a six-point lead over Waitakere, who have a game in hand. The odds were heavily in favour of Auckland bouncing back from their midweek O-League defeat by Waitakere as they hosted a team who have yet to win a game this season.
But horizontal rain and strong winds made football a lottery and at 1-1 after 18 minutes an upset seemed likely. The experience of the Aucklanders told against the youthful Cantabrians, who are battling back from the loss of their original coach and several prominent players.
Auckland, playing into a strong wind in the first half, opened the scoring in the 12th minute when a free kick by Jeff Campbell was headed across the goal by Paul Urlovic and stabbed home from close range by Riki van Steeden.
Canterbury's reply was swift. In the 18th minute the Auckland defence went to sleep and a chip across goal was buried by Tom Lancaster as defenders stood and stared.
The match was decided in a five-minute spell midway through the half when Auckland scored twice in two minutes. Big George Suri volleyed home the first after a corner had been partially cleared only for Chad Coombes to lay on a perfect cross from the right. Urlovic scored the second as a weak clearance was collected by Ki-Hyung Lee, who laid on a defence-splitting pass to the striker. Auckland's fourth came five minutes after the break when James Pritchett delivered a pinpoint cross from the right and Urlovic headed it home unchallenged.
Auckland coach Colin Tuaa was delighted at the way his team responded to their midweek disappointment.
"The four goals were of high quality," he said, "but I was disappointed we didn't convert more of the chances we created."
Canterbury coach Korouch Monsef felt his team had played well for the first 25 minutes and scored a just goal.
"But we lost concentration for five minutes and they scored two goals. That is what happens with such a young group. I'm hoping they've learned from the experience."
NZFC
Auckland City 4
Canterbury 1
