Two late goals enabled Southern United to emerge with the grittiest of 2-1 victories over home side Waitakere United yesterday.
Down 1-0 with six minutes to play and having defended continued attacks from its opponent, Southern United looked down and out. But the Dunedin-based side simply did not give up and went on to win thanks to two late goals from striker Danny Furlong. The visiting side went all out on attack in the match’s dying minutes with Furlong being denied twice in the 84th minute by Waitakere United goalie Liam Anderson.
Furlong would eventually equalise for his team with a clean strike in the 89th minute.
The goal looked like solid consolation for a huge defensive effort by Southern United, with five minutes of injury time ahead. But the visitors gave one last push to try to win the game, which saw them earn a penalty on the opposition goal line after Danny Ledwith was fouled. Ledwith then fed the ball perfectly to Furlong, who landed the match-winning goal and sent Southern United to an unlikely victory. Prior to the away side levelling the match it looked to run out unlucky 1-0 losers.
Its rock-solid defence was only broken when a foul penalty that appeared not to have been taken on the mark by Waitakere United led to the home team scoring through Eder Franchini Pasten in the 73rd minute.
The pressure the home side piled on its opponent
was so great a draw looked like it would be a solid result for Southern United during the first three-quarters of the match. Waitakere United dominated possession and peppered the Southern United goal right from the opening minute of the match. Most of those plays came from striker Yuki Ohtsuka, who tore up the left side of the field with spirited runs, especially in the first 20 minutes of play.
With only one minute of play gone Waitakere United had the first of six corner-shot opportunities in the first half. But the Southern United defence simply would not budge as only few of those plays looked to materialise into genuine scoring opportunities for Waitakere United.
During 20 minutes of staunch defending Southern United broke away for two scoring opportunities of its own. The second of those chances signalled a turnaround in the match as Southern United went on to dominate the next 15 minutes of play. The Waitakere United defence was also up to the task and held out the consistent pressure from the visitors. After halftime the game tipped Waitakere United’s way again, the home team dominating possession until its opponent kicked into gear in the match’s final minutes. Southern United will play Hawkes Bay United in the next round of the national premiership at Sunnyvale on Sunday.
- Jonny Turner
Southern v Waitakere
The scores
Southern United 2
Danny Furlong 90’, 94’
Waitakere 1
Eder Franchini-Pasten 73’
Halftime 0-0
