Placemakers Cook Street Central United were somewhat relieved to hear the final whistle in their Ansett National Club Championship encounter with Delta Tapware Metro at Kiwitea Street on April 16.
It signalled the end to a searching examination of the home side's credentials by a combination richly deserving of at least a share of the points in an enthralling Central Auckland derby. Sadly for Kevin Hagan's side, they left empty-handed, Central having recorded a somewhat fortuitous 2-1 victory over their near-neighbours in a fixture reversed due to the current unplayable condition of Metro's Albie Turner Field ground.
Where the game was ultimately won and lost was in the first twenty or so minutes of play. In that time, Central were rampant. They started like a house on fire, with a full-blooded Matthew Vuksich volley being headed away by Stuart Mair in the fourth minute, and Josh Stick lazily firing over after being picked out by a superb Vuksich crossfield pass three minutes later. The home side were forced to make two changes, due to injuries, in the first fifteen minutes of play. Five minutes later, they had two goals on the board as adequate compensation.
The first came about through the intervention of one of the substitutes. Stephen Mack's entry to the fray saw him create the opening goal with his first touch on the quarter hour. Scampering down the right onto a Ross Nicholson clearance, he drilled in a low cross to the near post which the usually sound Grant Schofield inadvertently fumbled under pressure from Campbell Banks.
The lanky striker was merciless in extracting the maximum punishment for this blunder, and Central were 1-0 in front and well worthy of their advantage. But they were somewhat fortuitous in being given the opportunity to double it four minutes later, as referee Neil Fox deemed that Sakdy Phommahaxay was guilty of holding Brian Hawke in the penalty area, as the striker looked to turn the defender. So stunned were Metro with this baffling decision that they offered not a single protest, and Daniel Koprivcic duly drilled home the spot kick to put Central 2-0 ahead.
Both scorers had chances to enhance their team's lead still further before the half hour, while Bruce Hill failed to complete a sparkling counter-attack on the half-hour with the well-struck volley it demanded, as Central looked for more goals.
They were having to be wary of Metro as an attacking force by now, however, Paul Field signalling the visitors' intentions when pouncing on a Michael Ridenton error in the 23rd minute. Nicholson produced a smart save low to his right to keep out this drive.
Much of what was good in the bottom-of-the-table team's revival was coming from two sources. James Pritchett, making his first start at this level, was causing Central more than a few problems on the right flank as Metro gradually assumed the ascendancy.
The most influential figure on the park, however, was  Sean Hird, a former player-coach at both clubs, whose influence on the match grew with every passing minute. Where Vuksich had been stamping his authority on proceedings earlier, Hird was now dictating terms, and slowly but surely, the tide began to turn Metro's way, increasingly more infrequent Central counter-attacks notwithstanding.
When Graham Green's penalty, awarded for a foul on Mark Foster by Hill, found the net for Metro in the 48th minute, it set up a gripping second half, with the visitors probing for openings at every turn.
Nigel Curteis had the ball in the net in the 56th minute, but Phommahaxay, who had supplied the cross, was deemed to have done so from an offside position. Two minutes later, an inswinging Hird corner was cleared off the line by Vuskich, while numerous other raids foundered on the experience of All Whites past and present, Ridenton and  Nicholson, who, between them, were responsible for frustrating many of Metro's forward forays with seemingly monotonous regularity.
As they pressed forward in search of an elusive encounter, Central's counter-thrusting capabilities came to the fore, Banks often central to them. In the 62nd minute, he appeared to be sent tumbling in the penalty area by Mair, but referee Fox was in no doubts that a third penalty would not be witnessed.
The burly defender denied Mack in the act of shooting in the 79th minute, while the replacement striker saw Schofield save at his feet six minutes from time. Time enough for one last concerted raid in the quest for parity, and a Gareth Rowe slip let Green in with two minutes left to play.
From twenty-five yards, he unleashed a fiercesome drive which found its match in Nicholson, who spectacularly tipped the fast-rising shot over the crossbar, much to Metro's despair - their efforts certainly merited at least a share of the spoils, but they remain in last place, with just a point to their name.
Central, meanwhile, climb from fourth to ... fifth on the bonus points-incorporating ladder, just two points behind leaders University-Mt. Wellington, whom they visit in the match of the round on Easter Sunday.

Central: Nicholson; Rowe, Ridenton, Uhlmann (Dobrec, 9 (booked, 80)); Scott (Mack, 14), Hill, Vuksich (booked, 89), Stick; Koprivcic (Fowler, 73), Banks, Hawke

Metro:  Schofield; Imre, Mair (booked, 68) (List, 81), Phommahaxay, Ogg; Pritchett, Curteis (booked, 89), Hird, Field; Foster (Maguire, 73), Green

Referee: Neil Fox

Arcus Trophy: S. Hird (Metro) 3; M. Ridenton (Central U.) 2; R. Nicholson
(Central U.) 1

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