AUCKLAND – Waitakere United overcame an early red card to captain Danny Hay to beat YoungHeart Manawatu 2-1 in Palmerston North and return to the top of the New Zealand Football Championship on Sunday.

A day after losing the league lead to Auckland City – who beat Waikato FC 2-0 on their return to Kiwitea St – Waitakere went back to the summit on 47 points, with two games remaining in the 21 match regular season.

Auckland (47) lie second on goal difference, three points ahead of Team Wellington (44) – 2-0 winners over Canterbury – but have played one game more than both their rivals.

Auckland’s absence due to O-League commitments in Tahiti next Saturday night might see them yield further ground in the race for home advantage during the playoffs.

Waitakere looked in trouble when Danny Hay was sent off inside the first 20 minutes but goals to Jake Butler after half-an-hour and Neil Emblen in the 68th minute were enough to safely navigate through a fixture they lost – also with 10 men – on their last visit to Palmerston North.

Manawatu had equalised trough Uruguayan defender Pablo Yackson in the 61st minute but couldn’t capitalise on their man advantage to wrestle control of the match away from Waitakere.

“I think we were quite lucky that Danny was sent off so early,” Waitakere manager Chris Milicich said after the game. “It gave us time to settle and get used to having ten men.”

Third-placed Team Wellington also won with ten men, having lost goalscorer Peter Halstead to straight red on the hour at Newtown Park.

A poor backpass and pressured goalkeeper clearance was the cause of both goals with Halstead giving Wellington the lead in the 13th minute and golden boot leader Graham Little repeating the effort late in the game after the home side soaked up sustained Canterbury pressure.

On Saturday, Auckland settled a scrappy affair with second half goals to defender Joel Mathews in the 56th minute and a Ki-Hyung Lee penalty five minutes from time.

Both sides finished with ten men as the closing stages were marred by scuffles and second bookable offences by Greg Uhlmann and Sam Wilkinson.

Meanwhile, a brace to Greig Henslee guaranteed Hawke’s Bay United fourth place and their best ever finish in the NZFC with a dramatic 2-1 win over Otago United in Napier on Saturday.

Otago spent much of the match defending but looked like grabbing a point when Mike Eisenhut equalised against the run of play after an hour, although Henslee’s second goal as the clock ticked into injury time handed Hawke’s Bay the win.

Results

Saturday

Auckland City 2 (Joel Mathews 56, Ki-Hyung Lee 85-pen)

Waikato FC 0

Halftime: 0-0

Hawke’s Bay United 2 (Greig Henslee 22, 90+2)

Otago United 1 (Mike Eisenhut 57)

Halftime: 1-0

National Youth League Final

Canterbury United 3 (Hamish Chang 22, Garry McDermott 77, Andrew Barton 90)

Waitakere United 6 (Peter Norris 8, Blair Konik 24, Jason McKeown 36, Keegan Linderboom 100, Simon Day 116, Anthony Hobbs 120)

A.e.t (Fulltime 3-3, Halftime 1-3)

Sunday

YoungHeart Manawatu 1 (Pablo Yackson 61)

Waitakere United 2 (Jake Butler 30, Neil Emblen 68)

Halftime 0-1

Team Wellington 2 (Peter Halstead 18, Graham Little 86)

Canterbury United 0

Halftime 1-0

Story courtesy of NZ Football. For full story and more visit www.nzsoccer.com