Auckland City stay clear at top
Auckland City have remained clear at the top of the national men’s football league, but it was a canine that stole the show at Madills Farm yesterday.
Midway through the second half of the Charity Cup clash between City and defending champions Eastern Suburbs, a dog got on the pitch and left a deposit behind, bringing play to a halt.
The action eventually resumed, but it might not be long before the ISPS Handa Premiership comes to a halt entirely.
Brian Kaltak had given City the lead on the hour mark, heading in from a corner to break the deadlock in a contest that had been tight until then.
Myer Bevan added a second near the end of regular time as City completed a 2-0 win over Suburbs, which leaves them three points clear of Team Wellington with two rounds to play.
In stoppage time, City defender Tom Doyle was shown two yellow cards in the same passage of play and was subsequently sent off, after a tussle with Suburbs midfielder Reid Drake, who was also booked.
Team Wellington had kept in touch with the leaders by beating Southern United 1-0 in Dunedin, thanks to Jack-Henry Sinclair’s header on the verge of halftime.
Waitakere United beat Hawke’s Bay United 5-2 to all-but secure themselves third place.
They face City and Team Wellington in the final two rounds, but their 27 points should be enough, even if they were to suffer back-toback losses.
Under-23 international Dane Schnell continued his hot form, netting twice to take his tally to 11 for the season, while Luke Searle and Nic Zambrano joined him and Hawke’s Bay contributed an own goal.
Ahinga Selemani had given the visitors an early lead at Seddon Fields, but they had fallen behind 4-1 before Angus Kilkolly scored with eight minutes to play.
Hamilton Wanderers and Tasman United were both looking for a win to put pressure on fourthplaced Suburbs in the race for the playoff spots, but ended up drawing 3-3 at Porritt Stadium yesterday, a result that does neither of them any good.
Xavier Pratt gave Wanderers an early lead, but Jesse Randall and Fox Slotemaker replied to give Tasman a 2-1 lead at the break.
Derek Tieku and Pratt then put Wanderers in front, scoring in the first 15 minutes of the second half, only for Lachie Brooks to equalise in stoppage time.
In the only clash with no playoff implications, at English Park in Christchurch, Luke Tongue scored a stoppage-time equaliser for Canterbury United as they drew 1-1 with the Wellington Phoenix reserves, who had gone ahead in the first half through Ahmed Othman.