Teamw seal spot in top four

Team Wellington secured their place in the national men’s football league playoffs with a win over defending champions Eastern Suburbs yesterday.

Waitakere United moved closer to cementing themselves in the top four after beating Hamilton Wanderers on Saturday, while Southern United pulled off a dramatic comeback to stay in the race for the final two playoff spots.

Leaders Auckland City weren’t in action this weekend, as they are in Tahiti on OFC Champions League duty, and now sit three points ahead of Team Wellington with three games to play.

They hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over their rivals, so will need to slip up at least twice in their final three matches – away to Eastern Suburbs, at home to Southern United, and at home to Waitakere – to lose their grip on the top spot.

There are just two matches this weekend, between Suburbs and Hawke’s Bay in Auckland, and the Wellington Phoenix reserves and Tasman in Wellington, as the Champions League continues to interfere with the national league schedule.

Suburbs and Tasman will be favourites to win and put some breathing space between them and Southern and Wanderers heading into the business end of the season.

At a glance

(Andy Bevin 35’, Joao Moreira 43’, Rory Mckeown 45’+6 90’) (Kingsley Sinclair 13’). 45’ 54’). 3-1. (Dane Schnell 4’ 58’, Alex Connor-mcclean 43’) 2-0. (Garbhan Coughlan 43’ 65’, Cody Brook 48’, Adam Hewson 78’)

(Ihaia Delaney 5’, Sho Goto

Auckland City 34 (15), Team Wellington 31 (15), Waitakere United 24 (15), Eastern Suburbs 19 (14), Tasman United 19 (14), Southern United 19 (15), Hamilton Wanderers 19 (15), Hawke’s Bay United 15 (14), Wellington Phoenix reserves 14 (14), Canterbury United 9 (15).