A comfortable 2-0 win at Metro on May 16 has taken University-Mt.  Wellington to the overnight lead in the Northern Premier League, as the team boasting six former Metro players in its starting line-up cruised to victory at Albie Turner Field against a shot-shy home side.
The first twenty-five minutes of this encounter was largely defence-dominated, with the only opening of note coming ten minutes into play, as Paul Temple broke at pace down the right for the visitors. His cross found Joe Waugh diving in where angels fear to tread, and the striker sent his header flashing over the crossbar.
But from the twenty-sixth minute on, Uni-Mount took control of the game, and it didn’t take them long to turn their dominance into a goal. Their first raid in this spell saw the outstanding Aaron Root play the ball forward to Temple on half-way.
His lay-back for Andy Brown resulted in a ball forward for Waugh, whose lay-off rewarded Root’s rampaging run forward from deep to maintain the attack. The midfielder’s shot took a deflection, looping over the advancing Craig Wilkins but just wide of the goalkeeper’s right-hand post.
The resulting corner saw the visitors go desperately close to opening the scoring, Root’s set-piece delivery picking out Nathan Christie on the far post. His downward header ricocheted off the outstretched leg of Wilkins and up off the angle of post and crossbar to safety.
After Waugh had rattled the side netting - Metro’s Ben Dundas had been caught in possession to prompt this opportunity, Uni-Mount took a deserved lead in the 31st minute. Root, unsurprisingly, was at the heart of the move, his through ball being well anticipated by the well-performed Temple, who scampered past Metro’s flat back-four and let fly earlier than the advancing Wilkins had anticipated, the ball cannoning into the net off the far post.
Within minutes, the visitors could have doubled their advantage. Peter Hendriks - Metro’s best performer - blocked a Temple drive, before Wilkins did well in saving a rasping Waugh shot which bounced just in front of the diving goalkeeper, who thwarted the pacy striker at close quarters seconds later, following a Stefan Hollard cross.
Another Waugh drive, this time from thirty yards, cannoned off Wilkins’ chest to safety in the 36th minute, as Uni-Mount looked to extend their lead, but in the remaining minutes until the break, the momentum shifted, with Metro producing a couple of raids to keep the visitors on their toes.
Tamati Williams certainly had to be, tipping a teasing cross from the ever-lively Krish Singh over his crossbar, before repeating the dose to deny Dundas’ vicious in swinging corner. The goalkeeper then produced the save of the match as he leapt backwards to just get his fingertips to a looping Nigel Curteis header, after a Dundas free-kick had been flicked on by Bradley Newall into the midfielder’s path.
The second spell saw Uni-Mount resume their attacking ways, with Hollard squandering a good chance following Williams’ raking 53rd minute clearance.  Sixty seconds later, Kelly Escolme’s raid down the left culminated in a cross for Waugh, who found Cameron Gray and Hendriks in position to clear the threat, but only as far as Root.
He evaded a couple of challenges before letting fly, but unfortunately for the midfielder, his shot deflected safely through to Wilkins.
Two minutes later, Root swept a free-kick across to Daniel Markham, who’s delightfully angled cross was neatly controlled by Hollard. His lay-off invited Escolme to let fly from twenty yards, and his volley flew past the diving Wilkins and only just past the left-hand upright.
Two Singh-inspired raids in the next seven minutes offered Metro hope, the midfielder’s crosses causing problems in the visitors’ penalty area.  Williams saved at the feet of Rab McNeill on the first occasion, while second time around, the player-co-coach dummied to allow substitute Aric Kuibicki to let fly, but his volley sizzled over the crossbar.
In between times, the increasingly influential Hollard slipped Temple in on the left, and the striker charged into the penalty area. But as he shaped to shoot, Hendriks produced a goal-saving tackle to thwart the Uni-Mount marksman.
Escolme had a goal disallowed in the 65th minute - Hollard committed an infringement in the build-up - before Metro’s best chance of the second spell went west twenty minutes from time.
Richard Beeston - another to shine for the home team - lobbed the ball forward for Kuibicki, who found himself underneath the falling figure of Williams after the goalkeeper had won their aerial duel. As the striker lay prone, the ball fell perfectly for McNeill, who let fly, only for the perfectly-positioned Tim Broadhurst to clear the danger.
Two minutes later, Uni-Mount made the game safe. Temple released Brown - he had a whale of a game in central midfield - at pace down the right, and the seasoned campaigner delivered a delightfully weighted cross into Waugh’s path. The striker’s fifteen yard header left Wilkins clutching at air as it zoomed past him and into the net by his right-hand post - 2-0.
Temple came close to his second goal of the game - Uni-Mount’s third - soon after, steering his shot just wide as he stretched to meet a Waugh cross, but the home team’s lack of a cutting edge in attack meant that their opponents were never going to be pegged back at this stage of proceedings, and the visitors held on for a comfortable victory.

Metro: Wilkins; Beeston, Hendriks, Gray, Clarke; Singh, Dundas (booked, 19) (Teo, 76), Curteis (booked, 20), Taylor (Horne, 46); McNeill, Newall (Kuibicki, 59)

Uni-Mount: Williams; Markham, Broadhurst, Christie; Thou, Brown (Margison, 76), Root, Hollard, Escolme (Munday, 83); Waugh, Temple (Chapman, 83)

Referee: Hengo Sioneloto

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