Eastern Suburbs secure home semifinal
Eastern Suburbs secured a home semifinal in the national men’s football league, beating Tasman United 3-1 in Nelson while Team Wellington lost 2-1 at home to Auckland City yesterday.
Those results mean all the finals matches will be played in Auckland.
Canterbury United are in the box seat to finish third and avoid City, the defending champions, after beating Waitakere United 4-1 on the road.
They need just a point away to Tasman next week to set up a knockout clash with Suburbs.
Callum Mccowatt scored from the spot and open play for Eastern Suburbs, moving level with Hawke’s Bay’s Sam Mason-smith at the top of the golden boot standings with 16 goals, one more than team-mate Andre de Jong, who netted his 15th of the season to put them in front midway through the second half at Trafalgar Park, after Ryan Worrall had drawn Tasman level earlier in the spell.
Maro Bonsu-maro nabbed a brace for Auckland City, who found themselves behind early at David Farrington Park when Team Wellington netted through Aaron Clapham, but fought back to ensure their unbeaten record remained intact.
Canterbury trailed early as well against Waitakere as Ollie Bassett put the home team in front, but equalised when Adam Thurston struck from the spot after Matt Wood was dismissed and eased to the win from there.
Southern United took the lead twice in the first half against Hawke’s Bay United, but were pegged back both times, and had to settle for a draw.
Azariah Soromon put them in front after 14 minutes in Dunedin, only for Paul Ifill to equalise from the spot two minutes later, while Garbhan Coughlan’s 36th minute strike was cancelled out by Maxime Oliveri’s just before halftime.
Southern secured fifth place despite the draw, as sixth-placed Hamilton Wanderers lost to the Wellington Phoenix reserves at Porirua Park in dramatic fashion.
Max Batchelor and Ben Waine scored first-half goals for the Weenix, but Tommy Semmy and Martin Bueno looked to have salvaged a draw, only for Waine to find a winner in the dying minutes.