Wairarapa lose nine-goal thriller
Stop Out regained top spot in the men’s Central League for one day, but ended the round sharing it with Western Suburbs, who beat Team Taranaki in New Plymouth on Sunday.
At home to Napier City Rovers the game was evenly balanced with the teams going goal for goal, but at 2-2 Stop Out managed to push ahead and take all three points with a 3-2 victory.
Western Suburbs dominated the second half against Team Taranaki, who lost a player to a red card early in the half, winning 3-1 at Merrilands Domain to go top equal.
At Newtown Park, Wairarapa United saw their league lead slip away after Wellington United upset them 5-4 in a thriller.
Even with goals from golden boot contenders Paul Ifill and Sam Mason-Smith Wairarapa were unable to hold out a determined Wellington United.
Miramar Rangers travelled to Palmerston North to face a struggling Marist side and won 5-3.
Dom Rowe got proceedings off the best possible start for the visitors, scoring in the first minute.
Marist struck back straight away, working the ball round the Rangers keeper to score.
In the 20th minute Miramar went 2-1 up when Jack Imray was on hand to tap the ball in following a deflection from the Marist keeper.
Rangers continued to dominate and went 3-1 up at halftime when Jackson was left with plenty of space to receive a well-timed through ball pushing it into the net unchallenged.
Rowe scored another early in the second half as Miramar went to 4-1, but Palmerston North Marist showed a period of sustained attack and were rewarded scoring twice late in the game, only to have Shea Gormley seal it late for Rangers.
At Fraser Park, Lower Hutt got off to a positive start when Jared Cunniff took advantage of the Olympic keeper being off his line, chipping the ball over his head and into the net after five minutes.
Olympic settled into the game and following some pressure in the Lower Hutt half received a corner, which was initially cleared but Olympic regained possession and went on to score through Gonzalo Amado.
In the leadup to half time Luis Corralles had the opportunity to put Olympic ahead after stealing the ball from the Lower Hutt keeper, only to have his shot pushed wide. The resulting corner saw a frantic scramble in the box and the ball eventually ricocheting off a Lower Hutt defender into the net for an own goal.
In the W-League, Upper Hutt continued their dominant run with Emma Main scoring six goals in her team’s 10-0 trouncing of Wairarapa United at Maidstone Park.
Palmerston North Marist provided stronger opposition for Wellington United and were unlucky to come away with more than just one point in their 2-2 draw.
Tilly James picked up both of Marist’s goals, with Briar Palmer and Michaela Robertson scoring for Wellington United.
Seatoun were too strong for Stop Out, scoring six unanswered goals and leaving Stop Out without any points for the season.
Seatoun challenging Palmerston North Marist for third spot in the W-league with Upper Hutt and Wellington United sharing top spot with ten points after four rounds.