Team Wellington continued their perfect record of five from five by beating Canterbury United at English Park on Sunday.
The win keeps them two points ahead of nearest challenger Auckland FC who needed an 85th minute winner to overcome Waikato FC at Waikato Stadium.
Wellington were missing two of their most influential players with All Whites Andy Barron and Daniel Ellenshon both out injured but this didn’t stop them running
away with a scrappy 1-0 win on the road. A low strike from Wiremu Patrick from well outside the box was all that was required to take the three points home to Wellington and set a new league mark
for the most wins in succession at the start of a season.
Auckland FC may count themselves lucky after giving away a two goal lead to Waikato before earning a dubious 85th minute penalty to win the game. After
getting off to a flying start with goals to Bryan Little and Ben Sigmund in the first half City took the foot off the gas and they nearly paid the price. A spirited second half revival from Waikato
earned them a penalty in the 47th minute, converted by Rob Gill, then an equaliser in the 67th from former City player Sam Wilkinson.
It was a tense final twenty minutes where the game could have swung either way before the ball unexpectedly hit Shaun Van Rooyens’ arm in the box and the referee awarded a penalty. NZFC top scorer
Bryan Little stepped up to put away the spot kick and earned his side a hard fought three points.
In matches played on Saturday Waitakere cruised to a 3-1 victory over Manawatu, while Hawkes Bay needed an 88th minute Stu Wilson strike to overcome table
dwellers Otago 1-0.