Waitakere City bolstered their Northern Premier League title prospects with a no-frills 5-1 victory at Albie Turner Field on June 4, against a Metro side which, aside from a brief spell in the first half, offered little threat to their West Auckland rivals.
City dominated the early stages, with a dipping twenty-five yard effort from Mauro Donoso just clearing their crossbar prior to Kris Bright opening the scoring with a well-taken but softly conceded fifth minute goal.
Chris Gage prised open the defence and fired the ball across to the league’s leading goal scorer, who controlled neatly before striking a tame shot goal wards. It completely deceived Metro goalkeeper Craig Wilkins, however, the custodian left to stand and watch as the ball bounced past him into the net from the edge of the penalty area.
Wilkins was more like his usual self three minutes later, parrying at close quarters from Slack after the speedster had been released by a perceptive through ball from Geoff Gray. The former NPL Golden Boot winner followed up with a supporting run, which was rewarded when Slack, upon gathering the rebound from Wilkin’s save, steered the ball back towards his team-mate.
Gray’s finish, however, suggested he was still recovering from the All Whites’ result against Vanuatu - his shot, like that score line, was woeful, to put it mildly.
Metro strung a few neat moves together as they looked to level the scores, with Peter Wild twice being thwarted as he led raids on Waitakere’s goal. Fine covering defending by Jason Rowley prevented his progress in the sixteenth minute, while Michael Utting smothered the Metro man’s long-range effort as it zipped off the rain-slicked turf two minutes later.
After Bright sent a header flashing across the face of Wilkins’ goal, Metro’s efforts paid off with a hard-earned equaliser. It owed much to their willingness to chase and hustle City out of their stride - the sight of Utting kicking the ball out of play was not uncommon during this spell of Metro pressure.
But it was Vladimir Yugov who earned the home team their goal in the 22nd minute. The Bulgarian native offered a rather languid impression as he watched a Metro raid break down, but he was all vim and vitality seconds later, as he closed down Rowley, blocked the defender’s clearance and gathered the rebound.
A lay-off to the overlapping Shane Campbell was followed by a first-time low cross into the danger zone, where Wild was arriving on cue to sweep home what was, in the circumstances, a quickly-conceived and well-executed equaliser.
Parity prevailed for all of six minutes, the falling rain prompting the inevitable colourful armada of umbrellas to be raised aloft, consequently hogging the sightlines between the media booth and the goalmouth at the New North Road end of the ground. Apparently Rowley scrambled the ball home following a corner, but what one can’t see, one can’t describe!
Not many saw the next incident of note, either, with players and spectators alike completely bemused as referee Neil Fox pointed to the penalty spot in the 34th minute. Jason Beeston appeared to have the upper hand all the way through his tussle for possession with Slack, but the official spotted early on in the piece that the defender was pulling the striker back by his shorts, and when no advantage came City’s way from the tussle, he had no hesitation - penalty.
Gray duly despatched the spot-kick, and in doing so, killed off the game as a contest, for Metro were rarely seen as an attacking force again after this incident. The only player offering any threat to Waitakere was Wild, who galloped clear in the 42nd minute, after Beeston and Yugov had turned defence into attack with two incisive passes.
Utting, however, was alert to the threat posed by the striker and did enough to force him wide of the target before turning the subsequent shot to safety, the last act of note in a first half during which Metro’s on-field chatter levels barely registered on the sound monitors - Waitakere were doing all the talking, but they were also walking the walk.
Nine minutes into the second spell, the visitors firmly slammed the door on any prospects Metro harboured of matching their first round performance at Fred Taylor Park, where they came from behind to win 5-4 against the eight men of City. Gray was instrumental in a left-flank raid which culminated in Slack racing clear of the defence, and firing an early shot past the advancing Wilkins, who had got his angles all wrong - 4-1.
It was nearly five a minute later, a delicious chip from Bright just drifting past Wilkins’ right-hand post as Metro reeled from this latest setback. They got things back on track defensively, however, and for the next twenty-five minutes, frustrated City by employing an offside trap ploy which penned the visitors back.
Penetrating City’s defences for a second time, however, proved beyond Metro on this occasion. So wanting for amusement was Utting that he seemed to spend more time outside his penalty area than in it, and in the eightieth minute, he put his outfield skills to good use.
Yugov looked to release Wild with a lofted probing ball, but before Metro’s goal scorer had a chance to latch onto the sphere, who should appear at his side some twenty-five yards out from goal but Utting, who calmly chested the ball down and laid it off to Donoso without batting an eye-lid!!
As Metro looked on, Donoso switched the ball to the galloping figure of Gage - a sound game, albeit offset by a late injury scare - and his first-time pass arced behind the defence. Charging through was Michael Williams, who swept round the advancing figure of Wilkins before calmly notching the game’s final goal nine minutes from time.
Late efforts from substitutes Matthieu Thebault and Bradley Newall failed to aid Metro’s cause on the scoreboard, as they slumped to their heaviest home defeat in two seasons. It could have been worse, mind, with Wilkins pawing out an attempted headed clearance by Peter Hendriks in stoppage time.
City, meanwhile, closed to within two points of the league lead with this result, in what, after having been something of a procession early on in the campaign, is now becoming a highly interesting title race.

Metro: Wilkins; J. Beeston (booked, 69) (Newall, 81), R. Beeston, Hendriks, Markham; Campbell (Beckham, 74), Dundas (Thebault, 46), Smith, Kubicki; Wild, Yugov

City: Utting; Singh (booked, 80), Rowley, Donoso (Wylie, 83), Fowler; Gage (Chaloner, 88), Williams, Gray, Fry; Slack, Bright

Referee: Neil Fox

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