Lights secure place in final
A shock loss is likely to deny the Canterbury United Pride a home National Women’s Football League final, while the Northern Lights have secured their place in the decider.
The Pride were beaten 4-3 by fourth-placed Capital at Memorial Park in Petone on Saturday, and now need the Lights to slip up away to sixth-placed Waikato-Bay of Plenty in the final round on Saturday to claim top spot.
The Lights had the bye but are now in the box seat to finish first, two points clear of the Pride. A win will keep them top for sure, while a draw will be enough if the Pride don’t beat Auckland, and a loss will be enough if the Pride lose for the third game in a row.
The Pride-Auckland clash in Christchurch on Saturday is effectively an elimination final, though a draw will be good enough for the hosts to advance.
The Pride took a 3-2 lead against Capital with 20 minutes to play, after coming from behind twice, but late goals to Meisha Boone and Danielle Ohlsson sent them home unhappy.
An understrength Auckland needed a late goal to keep their season alive yesterday, equalising against WaiBop in the 90th minute through Tessa Leong at McLennan Park after Lilly Muspratt had put the visitors ahead midway through the second half.
In the third match of the penultimate round, Southern United strolled to an 8-2 win over Central at Massey University in Palmerston North.
Central’s season is now over and they will finish last, while Southern will finish sixth and host Capital, who could get up to third with a win and an Auckland loss, in Dunedin on Sunday.
The final will December 15 or 16.
In the national men’s league, Auckland City maintained their perfect start to the season with an hard-fought win away to Hamilton Wanderers.
Ricki Herbert’s Wanderers looked good for at least a point only take place on for Maro Bonsu-Maro to seize on a loose ball in the box and score with three minutes to play.
With three points in the bag for the seventh time this season – the best start any team has had in the modern era of the national league – City move four points clear at the top of the table, having played one game fewer than Team Wellington, who had a 1-1 draw with Canterbury United at home on Saturday and sit in second.
Team Wellington now turn their focus to the Club World Cup, where they play Al Ain from the United Arab Emirates on December 13.
Andre de Jong nabbed a brace as Eastern Suburbs beat Waitakere United 2-0 on Saturday, opening a gap of five points between themselves in third and Wanderers in fourth.
Southern United drew level on points with Wanderers after a 2-1 win over the Wellington Phoenix reserves in the capital, thanks to a stoppage time goal from Garbhan Coughlan, while Hawke’s Bay United won for the second week in row, 4-2 over Tasman United. Mark Hunt has bowed out of UFC with defeat.
The Kiwi Samoan star was unable to finish his eight-year stint in UFC in style, losing his heavyweight division bout to American Justin Willis by unanimous decision at UFC
Fight Night 142 in Adelaide yesterday.
It was a disappointing finish to the 44-year-old’s time in UFC, being outclassed by Willis, who captured the biggest win of his career.
Hunt apologised for his performance after the fight, not being at his best and failing to get into his rhythm.
Hunt said he was proud of what he had achieved in his UFC career.
‘‘The UFC is the number one organisation for mixed martial arts at the moment so I’m just glad that I’ve been competing at my age,’’ he told before the fight.
‘‘ I’ve been contracted for 23 years in professional fighting so I must be pretty good at it. I’m proud of that.’’