The country’s O-League berths have been filled by giants Auckland City and Waitakere United since the current format of the tournament was introduced in the 2007 season and they have proved a dominant force, sharing four titles between them.
Indeed, the only outfit to have broken the dominance of the Auckland clubs in the Pacific’s premier club competition is Papua New Guinea’s Hekari United, who won the 2010 O-League title by beating Waitakere United.
But that could be about to change if the ASB Premiership, New Zealand’s national league, continues to throw up the sort of the results it did on the weekend.
Auckland and Waitakere both stumbled while Canterbury United put themselves right in line for an O-League outing with a remarkable 9-1 win over Youngheart Manawatu.
Despite posting a disappointing goalless draw at home to a youthful Waikato FC line-up, Auckland increased their lead at the top of the table to four points while Waitakere lost ground with a 1-0 loss away to Hawke’s Bay United.
The surprising results leave Canterbury, Waitakere and Team Wellington all tied on fifteen points and separated only by goal difference with six rounds to play. Canterbury’s goal-fest also equalled the competition’s highest ever scoreline, set by Waitakere in the 2007-08 season when the West Aucklanders hammered Canterbury by the same margin.
The race for the O-League spots is now wide open as both the ASB Premiership champions and the ASB minor premiers qualify for the 2013 event. If the same team wins both titles, the ASB minor premier runners-up will nab the second O-League berth.
A Russell Kamo hat-trick led the way for Canterbury in their record-breaking win while Darren White and All White Aaron Clapham snatched doubles. They were joined on a jam-packed scoresheet by Tom Schwarz and Julyan Collett with the only Manawatu reply being provided by Jimmy Haidakis.
Goals were much harder to come by elsewhere as Auckland and Waikato fought out their stalemate – thanks largely to Mark Fulcher saving a Manel Exposito penalty – and a lone Conor Tinnion strike proved enough to give Hawke’s Bay their Waitakere win.
Wellington accounted for Otago United 2-1, Karl Whalen and Michael Eager bettering Harley Rodeka’s goal, in a match also notable for two sending-offs after Otago’s Matt Joy and Wellington’s Tim Schaeffers both saw red.

Share