Top three clear out on chasers
The top three national league football teams have moved clear of the chasing pack.
Team Wellington, Eastern Suburbs and Auckland City all won their ISPS Handa Premiership games on Sunday, with the first two moving to 23 points, while Auckland are two back on 21.
That leaves a four-point gap back to Canterbury United and Tasman United on 17, with Waitakere United one more back on 16.
The match of the day on Sunday, in terms of entertainment value, was Suburbs’ 5-3 triumph over Hamilton Wanderers at Porritt Stadium.
Eastern Suburbs looked to be in cruise control when going 4-1 up in the second half, at which point the Wanderers Twitter account wrote ‘‘game over’’.
But obviously Liam Hayes and Tommy Semmy weren’t listening, as their goals brought the score back to 4-3 late on. Moses Dyer had the last laugh though, slotting his second, and his side’s fifth, late on to seal the three points.
The first half of Team Wellington’s 2-1 win over Hawke’s Bay United was about as forgettable a 45 minutes of football as you will ever see in the national league.
Hawke’s Bay would feel the far more aggrieved of the two sides to go into the break at 0-0 after squandering a number of good chances throughout the half, while Wellington looked laboured on the long, dry grass of Porirua Park, where they were playing to facilitate Sky Sport coverage.
Wellington had a few chances to start the second half, but Hawke’s Bay had the best of the lot in the 67th minute when Wellington goalkeeper Scott Basalaj spilled a shot into the path of a charging Bjorn Christensen only for him to fire his shot wide of the mark.
They were made to pay for that miss three minutes later when Roy Kayara scored from a corner to put Wellington ahead.
New signing Ross Allen came on in the 60th minute and 15 minutes later he was on the scoresheet, tucking a tidy first-time finish into the bottom-left corner.
Hawke’s Bay squandered another golden chance with 10 minutes to go as their finishing continued to elude them, but Sam De St Croix did get a goal back with five minutes to go, smashing a volley past Basalaj.
Sekou Diane, who had only come on as a halftime substitute, was sent off for his second bookable offence in the 90th minute, but Hawke’s Bay were unable to capitalise in the four minutes of added time.
In other results, Auckland City beat Canterbury United 2-0, Tasman United were 4-2 winners over Southern United, while the Wellington Phoenix reserves came from behind to beat Waitakere United 3-2.
Auckland City were in relative comfort throughout their win after a first-half brace from Emiliano Tade.