Waitakere United’s win ended Hawke’s Bay’s eight-match unbeaten run on home turf and also saw Canterbury United – 4-1 winners over bottom-placed YoungHeart Manawatu – leapfrog the Bay into third place.
Auckland City broke a scoring record of their own in downing Waikato FC 7-1 at Kiwitea Street, the first time in ASB Premiership history the navy blues have scored seven goals and only the third time they have won a match by a six-goal margin since 2004.
Team Wellington – eliminated from the playoff chase last week – dumped Otago United 2-0 at Rugby Park in Invercargill to ensure the home side end the 2012/13 season without a home win for the first time in the club’s nine-year history.
With just one match remaining, Otago, Manawatu and Waikato are desperate to avoid the wooden spoon with all three clubs having accumulated the worst points return for positions six to eight in ASB Premiership records.
At Kiwitea Street, Auckland turned in a slick first-half performance with Gustavo Souto Sampedro hitting a brace that included both a tap-in and a spectacular scissor kick volley, before Alex Feneridis bagged the navy blues’ third on the half-hour mark as Waikato struggled to keep pace.
The roof caved in on Waikato two minutes before halftime when referee Nick Waldron showed defender Raymond How a straight red card for a clumsy challenge. Adam Dickinson scored from the resulting penalty to make it 4-0 only for Manel Exposito to snatch a fifth one minute into time added on.
Gurjeep Singh pulled one back with a slaloming solo run ten minutes after the restart, only for Auckland City substitute Emiliano Tade to restore the five-goal cushion with a thundering close range goal on the hour. Midfielder Chris Bale added City’s seventh with a superb long range shot on the stroke of fulltime.
Goals by Henry Fa’arodo and Hamish Watson were enough to hand Team Wellington a comfortable 2-0 win over Otago in Invercargill. Fa’arodo opened the scoring on 16 minutes when he headed a Cory Chettleburgh lob over goalkeeper Liam Little before Watson doubled the advantage eight minutes later when he latched onto a wayward clearance to finish beyond Little with ease.
At Napier, Waitakere showed no sign of slowing down by ending Hawke’s Bay’s year-long unbeaten run at Bluewater Stadium. Skipper Jake Butler got Waitakere ahead on 31 minutes stabbing home from close range before two goals in five second-half minutes for Matt Cunneen and Ryan de Vries set up a comfortable 3-0 winning margin.
The West Aucklanders can become the second team to win an ASB Minor Premiership without losing a game, matching Auckland’s achievement last season, if they can take points off Canterbury at Fred Taylor Park next Sunday.
In Christchurch, Canterbury leapfrogged Hawke’s Bay into third place by beating Manawatu 4-1 thanks to an Aaron Clapham hat-trick. Clapham scored with two penalties, one in each half, and a long range shot from 22 metres, to set up an easy victory. Russell Kamo’s second-half strike rounded off the scoring for the Dragons, while Seule Soromon netted from the penalty spot on 33 minutes to provide some consolation for Manawatu.
Next Saturday, Wellington finish the regular season at home to a Hawke’s Bay side needing points to avoid fourth place and a semi-final showdown with defending champions Waitakere on March 3 and 10.
On Sunday, Auckland travel to Palmerston North to take on a Manawatu team desperate to avoid a hat-trick of wooden spoon finishes, while Otago head for Hamilton to face Waikato in what amounts to a winner-takes-all sixth place playoff at Porritt Stadium, should Auckland overcome Manawatu as expected.
Waitakere’s match with Canterbury looms as a potential grand final rehearsal where a win for the visitors would see them clinch third place and secure a semi-final with runners-up Auckland.
Story courtesy of New Zealand Football.
For more on New Zealand Football visit www.nzfootball.co.nz

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