Waitakere United increased their lead at the top of the national soccer league to five points after a crushing 4-0 win over bottom-placed Manawatu at Palmerston North today.

The win puts daylight between Waitakere and minor premiership rivals Canterbury United and Hawke's Bay United, who remain in second and third, respectively, following their 0-0 draw at Christchurch.

Auckland City also drew a blank and stayed in fourth place after a goalless draw with Otago United at Auckland.

Auckland will now be looking nervously over their shoulder as Team Wellington climbed up to fifth after a come-from-behind 3-1 win over Waikato FC at Wellington

But the day belonged to Waitakere, who were sent on their way to victory through first half goals by Michael Gwyther and Ryan de Vries.

Roy Krishna increased the lead to three with a goal on 67 minutes while Golden Boot leader Allan Pearce made it 4-0 with his fourth of the season on 74min to cap off a memorable day for the visitors.

Substitute Neil Sykes earned his 100th national league appearance, becoming just the fourth player in the competition's history to do so.

Canterbury and Hawke's Bay were left wondering what might have been with both sides squandering a good opportunity to go clear in second place.

The wait for a Waikato regular season away win over Wellington will have go on hold for at least another season after they were soundly beaten in the capital. The visitors took the lead thanks to Maksim Manko midway through the first half, but a John Sutherland penalty on 55min restored parity.

Wellington coach Stu Jacobs made a wise move by bringing on Hicham Kamri, the striker scoring twice in the final 10min to give the home team their first win of the season ahead of Tuesday night's Challenge series match against the Wellington Phoenix 'A' team.

Otago United were well worth their 0-0 draw with Auckland City but enjoyed a fair slice of luck as the home side hit the crossbar and the post in a match affected by windy conditions.