Midtable start for Junior Navy Blues

Words: NZF Media

Thursday 19 October 2017

It wasn’t a good weekend for the country’s biggest city in the opening round of the National Youth League but the two teams from the capital had plenty to celebrate and were joined in making the early front-running by Canterbury United.

The Wellington Phoenix and Team Wellington both posted 3-1 wins, over Hawke’s Bay United and Eastern Suburbs respectively, while Canterbury also enjoyed a comfortable victory, 4-1 against Waitakere United.

Waitakere’s crosstown rivals Auckland City picked up a point from their trip to Dunedin after a 1-1 draw with Southern United while the maiden title defence of Hamilton Wanderers got off to a winning start thanks to their 2-1 success over Tasman United.

In the individual stakes, three players have put their hands up as potential golden boot contenders with Ben Waine (Wellington Phoenix), Nathan Monne (Hamilton Wanderers) and Michael White (Canterbury United) all finding the net twice.

The nine-round National Youth League takes a break this Labour weekend before returning on October 28 and 29 with the second round of fixtures.

For the full National Youth League schedule please click here

National Youth League Round One Results

Hawke’s Bay United 1 (Vince Mackirdy)
Wellington Phoenix 3 (Ben Waine 2, own goal)
HT: 1-3

Team Wellington 3 (Merlin Luke-Miny, Matthew Garbett, Cameron Mackenzie)
Eastern Suburbs 1 (Luke Clissold)
HT: 2-1

Hamilton Wanderers 2 (Nathan Monne 2)
Tasman United 1 (Labu Pan)
HT: 1-0

Southern United 1 (Own goal)
Auckland City FC 1 (Jack Anderson pen)
HT: 1-1

Canterbury United 4 (Michael White 2, Harris Zeb, Byron Heath)
Waitakere United 1 (Matthew Banks)
HT: 2-0

Ends