Teenager quick to make an impact

Wellington Phoenix reserves fell short of a miracle comeback against Hawke’s Bay United despite the best efforts of teenager Blake Driehuis.

The 17-year-old striker announced himself on the national stage with a five-minute hat-trick to give Hawke’s Bay an almighty scare in their national league match at Porirua Park yesterday.

Hawke’s Bay hung on to secure a 4-3 victory thanks to a hat-trick of their own from Dylan Sacramento as the game came alive in the dying stages.

Driehuis scored in the 88th minute and twice in stoppage time.

Australian midfielder Reece Dalton came off the bench to grab the match-winning goal as Canterbury United edged South Island rivals Southern United 2-1 at English Park.

Southern took the lead through an early Garbhan Coughlan penalty but that was quickly cancelled out when George King levelled for Canterbury five minutes later.

Dalton, who was injected into the match in the second half, then fired home in the 82th minute to secure Canterbury’s first win under new coach Lee Padmore, driving into the box and hammering a low shot past Liam Little.

Hamilton Wanderers caused the first major upset of the new ISPS Handa Premiership season, scoring three times inside 12 first half minutes to secure an impressive 3-0 win over last season’s champions Eastern Suburbs at Porritt Stadium.

It was the perfect response from Ricki Herbert’s side, having lost 5-1 to Team Wellington last weekend.

Team Wellington and Auckland City could not be separated at Kiwitea St with Logan Rogerson’s second-chance effort securing a 2-2 draw.

Meanwhile, former youth player Alex Connor-McClean returned to haunt Tasman United, scoring twice as Waitakere United continued their perfect start to the new season with a 2-0 win at Saxton Field.

Connor-McClean scored his second with the final kick of the match, consigning Tasman to their second straight defeat in the competition.