AUCKLAND – Bryan Little returned from a six match injury layoff to send 10-man Auckland City to the head of the New Zealand Football Championship on Sunday, 24 hours after losing the lead to rivals Waitakere United.
Playing his first game since the end of January, Little converted a 65th minute penalty, while Jakub Sinkora added his first goal in Auckland colours five minutes from time as City won 2-0 over Otago despite losing George Suri to a red card 12 minutes after halftime.
The win restores City’s three point lead over Waitakere who still have a game in hand and won 1-0 at home to Canterbury United on Saturday thanks to a Commins Menapi goal two minutes into the second half.
Team Wellington sit three points further back but kept the heat on the top two with Luis Corrales scoring twice in the second half of their 2-0 win over Waikato FC.
While ultimately effective, none of the top three will be happy with – what were by their own standards – lacklustre performances.
Auckland and Waitakere both know they’ll need to go up a few gears at Douglas field next Sunday as the winner of that clash will have one hand on the minor premiership.
In other Sunday action, the central derby provided a gripping taster for the Auckland edition next week as Hawke’s Bay outlasted YoungHeart Manawatu in a five-goal, seven card thriller in Palmerston North.
Both sides had a player sent off in injury time after Gouzalo Nieres had tied the scores at 2-2 with a 90th minute penalty.
But Chris Greatholder had the final say, finishing from a corner two minutes into time added on to seal a dramatic victory, and condemn Manawatu to their fifth straight defeat.
Earlier, Leon Birnie put Hawke’s Bay back in front in the 83rd minute after a Prince Quansah goal cancelled out Graham Fyfe’s 33rd minute penalty.
Full match reports, stats, photos and standings can be found at www.nzfc.co.nz