The home side entered Series Two at the top of the standings and with four wins from five matches they now have a one-point lead over Mainland Futsal.
As in Series One the Auckland side, led by Futsal White Marvin Eakins, made a slow start to the weekend, dropping their first match on Saturday against Mainland 2-0. However they quickly rebounded to record a 1-0 win over Central Futsal Hawke’s Bay.
Their final outing of day one proved controversial as Futsal South looked set to claim a last minute 1-0 win over the leaders, only for the final result to be overturned after the southerners were found to have fielded an ineligible player.
Day two saw Auckland in goalscoring form, recording a 5-1 victory over Northern Futsal before they closed out the event with a 6-0 win over Central Futsal Manawatu.
New Zealand Football futsal development manager Dave Payne says Auckland Football Futsal’s slim lead shows how far each region has come in their development since last season.
“One of the common themes from Series One in terms of remarks from coaches is that it’s an even playing field this year,” Payne says.
“It’s fantastic, that’s what we want to see. Last year AFF dominated the league, but we saw them lose their first game in over a year in Dunedin which is good for the league – it’s not so good for them, but it’s good for everyone else.
“It shows we’re developing across the country now. The teams are so close, there are only a couple of points between the top four sides.”
Payne says the controversy in the match between Auckland and Fustal South, who had been sharing the lead coming into Series Two, was unfortunate.
“Futsal South played with a suspended player against Auckland which earned them a three-point deduction, so they won’t be very happy with that. But hopefully it will teach them, and the other national league sides a lesson – we won’t put up with that sort of behaviour,” he says.
Auckland coach Nathan Robertson says his side struggled to turn possession into goals on day one, but got it together for their final two games.
“We had quite a lot of possession but just couldn’t score. We scored one goal in three games. But it all came together on the Sunday where we took our chances and made them count,” Robertson says.
He also agrees that the standard of the league is on the rise.
“It’s certainly increased in quality. You can dominate possession but if you’re not creating chances you’re not going to score and you can lose games. That’s how tight it is,” he says.
“We’ve got the potential to go all the way and we’ve got the quality to go on and defend the title.”
Mainland Futsal has leapt up the table and is nipping at Auckland’s heels at the top of the leader board, while Capital are just three points behind in third place. Futsal South is currently fourth after they had three points deducted and will be looking to come back strong in the third and final series in March.
WaiBop Futsal have failed to win any matches in the first two series which has left them languishing at the bottom of the table with just three points from ten games.
Futsal South’s Carlos Herrmann added a further five goals to his tally, taking him to 13 over the first two legs and giving him a comfortable lead in the 2012-13 Golden Boot race.
The final leg of the three-series National Futsal League will be held in Wellington in March.
For more on New Zealand Football visit www.nzfootball.co.nz

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