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Playoff jostle heats up

Words: NZF Media

Wednesday 30 January 2019

The FIFA Club World Cup hangover has continued for Team Wellington after last season’s runners-up were leap-frogged by Canterbury United while there was an astonishing match in Hamilton in the latest bout of ISPS Handa Premiership action this afternoon.

Wellington – who have now gone three games without winning – could only bring a point back from their trip to Southern United after a scoreless stalemate while Canterbury capitalised to move into third with a 2-1 win over the Wellington Phoenix Reserves.

Tasman United are also on the rise after continuing their recent resurgence with a 3-1 success over 10-man Waitakere United but the most entertaining match of the day took place in the Waikato, where Hamilton Wanderers and Hawke’s Bay United fought out a thrilling 4-4 draw in one of the most memorable games in ISPS Handa Premiership history.

The opening whistle had barely finished blowing when Jorge Akers gave the Bay a very early lead with a tidy run and finish but it didn’t last long, Martin Bueno equalising just a few moments later by heading in a deep corner at the far post.

Remarkably, the visitors were in front again just seconds later as Sho Goto miscued his effort but was saved any embarrassment by Wanderers captain James Hoyle, who unwittingly prodded the ball into his own net. But again the advantage was very short-lived, Tommy Semmy swiftly getting Hamilton back on level terms in stunning fashion. In what will go down as one of the goals of the season, the burly yet athletic Papua New Guinea international acrobatically volleyed home a loose ball to make it 2-2 with only 13 minutes on the clock.

TABLE | Here's how the #ISPSHandaPrem table is looking after the weekend's action, @AucklandCity_FC take a massive stride towards the minor premiership while @CU_Dragons sneak ahead of @TeamWelly pic.twitter.com/CQXRS3tFKf
— New Zealand Football (@NZ_Football) January 28, 2019

To the disbelief of all onlookers, Hawke’s Bay then went straight down the other end and got themselves in front yet again though, golden boot leader Sam Mason-Smith side-footing a volley home at the far post for his 11th goal of the campaign.

That was it for the first-half scoring and it took until an hour was nearly up for Wanderers to hit back this time and it was another goal of individual brilliance, teenager Stafford Dowling bursting his way past several challenges before sliding a low effort to the left of Hawke’s Bay goalkeeper Alexander Britton. And it soon got even better for the hosts, Uruguayan striker Bueno providing yet another contender for goal of the season with a stunning free kick to give Hamilton the lead for the first time.

Amazingly, one more spectacular goal was to follow as substitute Gavin Hoy rescued a point for Hawke’s Bay by somehow finding the top corner from an acute angle to finally wrap up the scoring at 4-4.

There was far less drama down in Dunedin, where Wellington and Southern put on an entertaining display but found clear-cut chances tricky to carve out. In-form front-man Garbhan Coughlan came closest to breaking the deadlock for Southern in acrobatic fashion, sending a bicycle kick just wide of the post.

Wellington’s latest failure to pick up three points opened the door for Canterbury to move above them on the table and they duly obliged by edging out the Phoenix in Christchurch. Stephen Hoyle was the hero for the Dragons, taking his goal tally to nine with a double while the only reply for the ‘WeeNix’ – who again enjoyed plenty of possession but couldn’t convert that into a result – came off the unfortunate Sean Liddicoat for an own goal.

Also in the South Island, Waitakere looked on course for just their fourth win of the campaign when Kris Carpenter gave them an early lead against Tasman but the game changed just past the half hour when Luke Jorgensen received his marching orders for the visitors. It took a while for Tasman to take advantage of their extra man but they finally equalised on the hour when Ahmed Othman made the most of an outstanding ball from Kiernan Hughes-Mason.

With the clock ticking towards full-time, the home fans must have started wondering if they would have to settle for a point but substitutes Matt Tod-Smith and Alex Ridsdale combined for the latter to put Tasman in front and James McClay made sure of the points in the last minute of regulation time with a perfectly-placed free kick.

In the only match to take place on Saturday, defending champions Auckland City survived a late fightback from second-placed Eastern Suburbs to triumph 3-2 and extend their lead to eight points with a game in hand. Their winning run now stands at 12 games and they had their Pacific Island connection largely to thank for that after a double from Solomon Islands star Micah Lea’alafa and a sweetly-struck free kick from Vanuatu defender Brian Kaltak put them three goals up.

Suburbs rallied with strikes from Callum McCowatt and Dominic Wooldridge and piled on the pressure in the later stages but couldn’t quite finish the job as the Navy Blues took a massive stride towards securing the minor premiership.

For the ISPS Handa Premiership table and more information please click here

ISPS Handa Premiership Match Week 14

Auckland City FC 3 (Micah Lea’alafa 14’, 47’, Brian Kaltak 23’)
Eastern Suburbs 2 (Callum McCowatt 64’, Dominic Wooldridge 74’)
HT: 2-0

Canterbury United Dragons 2 (Stephen Hoyle 4’, 79’)
Wellington Phoenix Reserves 1 (Own goal 36’)
HT: 1-1

Tasman United 3 (Ahmed Othman 61’, Alex Ridsdale 86’, James McClay 90’)
Waitakere United 1 (Kris Carpenter 16’)
HT: 0-1

Southern United 0
Team Wellington 0
HT: 0-0

Hamilton Wanderers 4 (Martin Bueno 6’, 77’, Tommy Semmy 13’, Stafford Dowling 59’)
Hawke’s Bay United 4 (Jorge Akers 4’, own goal 10’, Sam Mason-Smith 14’, Gavin Hoy 89’)
HT: 2-3