There's no doubt about it, when it comes to local derbies in New Zealand soccer, those between any two of the nine clubs in the Central Auckland area certainly take some beating.
It's been my pleasure to witness and report on a stack of these clashes since 1993, and more often than not, there have been a series of features common to the vast majority of them, namely passion aplenty, drama galore, quality football, cracking goals, on-field (and sometimes off-field) controversy ... you name it, the Central Auckland derby has it, more often than not in large doses!
Typical of these duels was the North Island Soccer League clash of Delta Tapware Metro and Placemakers Cook Street Central United, at Albie Turner Field on May 8. Or was it? For, even by the standards of most previous Central Auckland derbies, there were some incidents during this evening which will see this match marked down in the annals as being 'Just A Little Bit Special'.
To start with, there was a curtain-raiser featuring the Three Kings United Premier Women's team, effectively the champion club side of New Zealand women's soccer. They took on 'The House of Football Selection" in a 'Battle of the Sexes' duel, which the chaps won 2-1, goals from Alex de Jong and John Flexen sandwiching the strike of the match, a thunderous twenty-five yarder from Rebecca Sowden which former national goalkeeper Sandy Davie is still in the process of diving for!!
This duel had attracted a sizable crowd, given the interest gained from the pre-match promotion on the television programme. But late on in the match, the central floodlight pylon on the clubrooms side of the arena cut out, leaving a portion of the pitch in darkness, not to mention the clubrooms themselves, the club's main supply box, located outside the ground, having blown a fuse.
The pre-match entertainment carried on - five pylons functioning off a separate fuse-box arrangement were still operational - while efforts to resolve the lighting issue in time for the scheduled 7pm kick-off of the main event took on ever-increasing urgency. 7pm came and went, but the 900-odd chilled souls gathered at Albie Turner Field remained somewhat in the dark as Mercury Energy endeavoured to fix the problem.
Indeed, it took until 7.50pm to finally confirm that all present would get to see the latest Central Auckland derby, and at 8pm, an hour later than planned, the action finally commenced, albeit with the clubrooms still in darkness - Metro understandably didn't want to risk the floodlights failing on a second occasion, particularly given that this was the club's biggest gate for some time.
The opening exchanges were typical of a derby match - little pattern, plenty of passion, but nothing to really set the heather alight. Indeed, it took twelve minutes for the first shot in anger to be fired, Hoani Edwards drilling his effort at Ross Nicholson, following the creativity of Danny McHenery and Stu Roberts.
Within seconds, Central had careered downfield, led by Paul Urlovic. He raced past two defenders before pulling the ball back from the by-line for Mark Elrick, whose effort left Grant Schofield wrong-footed but crept inches past the 'keeper's right-hand upright. Fred de Jong was next to feature, pouncing on a defensive blunder to slam a shot into the sidenetting, as the league leaders began to warm to their task on what was probably the chilliest night of the season thus far.
Central enjoyed a tidy little spell of some ten minutes' duration, but it was Metro who next set the pulses racing. Edwards' 25th minute free-kick was headed down by Jonathan Perry for Nigel Curties, who hit a screamer on the volley which whizzed past Nicholson's left-hand upright, the 'keeper barely moving in response to the shot.
Back came Central, the Urlovic brothers leading the charge. Paul set Mathew loose down the right, and his first-time cross picked out de Jong's head - his night-long battle with Stuart Mair was unquestionably the clash within the clash. The striker guided the ball over Schofield, and the bar also.
In the 37th minute came the first goal of the match, and it was a snorter! There appeared nothing on for Elrick as he gathered possession some thirty yards from goal, save for going it alone. Shooting from distance didn't even look to be an option. Wrong! 'Elf' unleashed a missile which swerved right, then left, then right again, before dipping over the diving Schofield and under the crossbar to put Central in front, and how!
Believe it or not, it wasn't the goal of the game! That came just two minutes later, and if you are unable to witness "The House of Football" this Thursday evening, get it taped - I'm certain you won't see a better strike, anywhere, before the 21st Century is upon us! It really was that good!!
Elrick delivered a corner to the far edge of the penalty area, the territory in which the unmarked Ivan Vicelich found himself. The defender stepped up to the dropping ball and crashed home the perfect volley, a quite magnificent and, at the same time, unstoppable strike which arced over all and sundry in the goalmouth en route to the far corner of the net - simply stupendous!
It was a little hard on Metro to find themselves two goals down, for to this point they had matched Central stride for stride in what was fast becoming a right humdinger of a Central Auckland derby. The visitors' brilliant brace merely served to ensure that this particular exhibition of local rivalry would rank among the very best examples of such clashes.
Unperturbed at the deficit, Metro responded almost instantly. McHenery slipped Perry through in the 41st minute, and the All White cracked a sizzling twenty-five yarder goalwards which Nicholson first parried, then gathered. Moments later, the 'keeper was at it again, foiling another Perry effort following an Edwards corner.
Half-time came and went, but still Metro pressed for a goal. Perry and Edwards combined on the right in the 53rd minute, the latter whipping in a cross which was met by Heath McCormack's diving header, the presence of Vicelich and Noah Hickey notwithstanding. The ball flew just wide.
Moments later, an Edwards corner careered across the Central goalmouth, needing just a touch to divert it over the line. None was forthcoming, much to the visitors' relief, and they proceeded to gain the ascendancy once more.
In the 66th minute, Central unleashed a super raid, the highlight of which was a Tinoi Christie one-two with Paul Urlovic. The return pass put Christie through one-on-one with Schofield, and the goalkeeper did superbly to thwart the opportunity, the ball duly being cleared by Metro.
But as this was taking place, a bit of psuhing and shoving broke out, Christie the target of some irate Metro defenders, Kara Waetford foremost among them. What prompted their ire was the sight of the prone Schofield clutching his hands to his head, seemingly having been clipped by Christie as the Central player stumbled upon Schofield saving at his feet.
Referee Neil Fox blew his whistle to stop play - the ball was still 'live' - and proceeded to restore order before checking on the welfare of Schofield. He then called the previously booked Christie to him, and unveiled the yellow card again, followed by a red one.
The All White was seething, and Central's charges weren't far behind him, as their rising ire quickly replaced that of the Metro contingent. Elrick talked himself into the referee's notebook in the exchanges that followed, while it was later revealed that Christie had endured an early shower despite Schofield assuring referee Fox that there had been no contact between the two players.
An interesting aside at this point, with regards a technical issue which this situation gave rise to. Given that the referee had seen no reason to blow his whistle when the challenge was initially made, one can only assume that it was his desire to quell the outbreak of physical confrontation which prompted his eventually doing so.
Fine, no problem. However, upon calming tempers, he administered a caution to Christie, which indicates that Fox had seen a foul being committed, but opted to play advantage, as Metro had regained possession. Okay, that's wearable, but only to a point, that being, had physical confrontation not brought about the stoppage in play, would Christie have been booked at all?
Furthermore, according to Law Three of the Laws of the Game, if play is stopped by the referee to administer a caution, the match is restarted by an indirect free-kick, to be taken by a player of the opposing team from the place where the ball was located when play was stopped.
On this occasion, referee Fox chose to restart the game with a drop-ball, which Metro didn't contest, as Elrick kicked the ball back to Schofield to resume play ... yes folks, it wouldn't be a typical Central Auckland derby without a healthy dose of controversy thrown in for good measure!!
It is a measure of just how good a team this Central combination is that they proceeded to play some of their best football of the evening in the last twenty-five minutes, this despite the seeming handicap of just ten players at their disposal.
They quickly knuckled down to the task, with Bruce Hill, one of many on the park to go close to scoring Arcus Trophy points, seeing Schofield smother his 72nd minute drive. Two minutes later, the goalkeeper pulled off a fine save to defy Paul Urlovic, after Central's attacking triumverate had weaved an opening based largely on their great understanding of each other's play.
The fulcrum of the raid, de Jong, had been felled by an over-exuberant McHenery challenge as he laid the ball off to Elrick. Referee Fox allowed Central to play on on this occasion, not wanting to break up their attacking momentum, with every justification. But as soon as there was a break in play, he showed McHenery his second yellow card of the evening, and to the showers he, too, trod.
Three minutes later, Central broached Metro's goal-line for a third time. The attack began in the visitors' penalty area, Vicelich foiling a Metro raid with a headed clearance to Elrick. The defender surged forward to receive his team-mate's return pass, before involving Mathew Urlovic.
Initially, the wide-man was crowded out, but a quickly taken throw-in to the charging de Jong saw the striker carve open Metro's rearguard, initially down the right, then along the byline. Mair provided the most glaring omission from Ken Dugdale's recently announced All White squad with a formidable tussle for possession at this point, but de Jong won their duel on this occasion, then lured Schofield out of his goal before laying the ball back for Paul Urlovic to drill the ball into it.
3-0 became 4-0 within two minutes. Elrick's 79th minute corner was headed clear by Waetford, but only to the edge of the penalty area, where Mathew Urlovic was lurking. He unleashed a venomous kick (Happy now, Billy Harris?) through a crowded penalty area into the far corner of the net to complete the scoring.
But the action was not yet over. For despite the scoreline, Metro refused to give up - a most heartening attitude given some of their recent disappointing displays. McCormack came oh so close to pulling one back when his glancing header of Edwards' corner slipped the wrong side of the post.
Then Edwards himself - second only to the outstanding Mair in Metro's order of merit in this match - sent a free-kick cannoning off the wall and just past the upright, to Nicholson's relief.
Central themselves were not done with, a deft Elrick touch putting the newly arrived Matthew Vuksich in on goal in the 87th minute. Schofield proved equal to the task, while Mair thwarted the league leader's final attack of the evening, Vicelich and Mathew Urlovic combining to create an opportunity for de Jong.
4-0 it remained, however, Central ultimately extending their advantage at the top of the table to ten points over the rest of the competition with this, their ninth win from as many matches. But the scoreline does not do justice to Metro's competitiveness in what was yet another classic Central Auckland derby, and certainly one which was 'Just A Little Bit Special'.

Metro: Schofield; O'Mara, Waetford, Mair, Phommahaxay; Edwards, Curties (Thompson, 79), Perry, Roberts (Malcolm, 82); McCormack (booked, 26), McHenery (booked 50, 74 - sent-off)

Central: Nicholson; Vicelich, Hickey, Uhlmann; M. Urlovic, Hill (Aliaga, 90), Keskic, Christie (booked, 54, 66 - sent-off); Elrick (booked, 66), de Jong (New, 90), P. Urlovic (Vuksich, 82).

Referee: Neil Fox

Arcus Trophy: Ivan Vicelich (Central) 3; Stuart Mair (Metro) 2; Mark Elrick (Central) 1.

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