Team Wellington grab upper hand
Team Wellington have taken a three-point lead at the top of the national league standings after Auckland City drew with Waitakere United.
The defending ISPS Handa Premiership champions cruised past the Wellington Phoenix reserves 4-1 yesterday afternoon at David Farrington Park to move to 20 points, while Auckland’s 2-2 draw meant they were level on 17 points with Eastern Suburbs, with both having a game in hand on Team Wellington, albeit it’s against each other.
In other results, Canterbury United thrashed Tasman United 6-0 in the Mainland derby, while strugglers Hawke’s Bay United and Hamilton Wanderers played out a 2-2 draw. Suburbs beat Southern United 2-0 on Saturday.
Yesterday’s action in Wellington saw Team Wellington surge to a 4-1 lead by halftime thanks to goals from Louis Fenton, Jack-Henry Sinclair, Andy Bevin and Nati Hailemariam.
The young Phoenix outfit simply weren’t at the races in the first half, struggling to compete physically or string more than half a dozen passes together. They were better in the second, but that was as much to do with Team Wellington flicking on cruise control.
Team Wellington coach Jose Figueira was just happy to avoid a potential post-Christmas break banana skin.
‘‘The first game back after the break is always a difficult one, just to get everybody back on the same page, but there were some really good moments and I’m delighted with the win.’’
He will have the services of Fenton for three more weeks before he leaves to join Melbourne Knights FC. Figueira has a replacement lined up for both him and midfielder Cole Peverley, who has moved to Auckland with his family.
The Auckland City game was an even contest where neither side gave an inch, and both had chances to win it. A draw was probably a fair result, although City’s attack was blunted by the loss of Ryan de Vries for personal reasons and Emiliano Tade to injury just before halftime.
At that point it was 1-0 thanks to a Tade goal, but Waitakere took a 2-1 lead within 15 minutes of the second half after Horace James scored and Keegan Linderboom slotted a penalty. Callum McCowatt scored Auckland’s equaliser in the 67th minute.