Roslyn Wakari was beaten 2-1 by Queenstown, Mosgiel downed Dunedin Technical 3-0 and University defeated Caversham 2-0.
Wanaka, new to the league, made an impressive start, winning 4-2 over Southland while Green Island beat Northern 5-2.
Matt Brazier put Green Island ahead on 19 minutes with a headed goal at Tahuna Park
Northern's Iori Carryer soon equalised with a fine goal. Lewis Wall then flicked the ball past 16-year-old debutant Eamon Wilson in goal to ease Island back in the lead.
With the first half nearly over, a careless back pass forced Island's Tom Milton into a reckless challenge. Referee Dan Woulahan pointed to the spot and gave Milton his marching orders. Luke Mitchell dispatched the penalty to tie it up at halftime.
Northern pressed in the second half but Green Island held firm and took the lead when Matt Milton reacted quickest to poke in a spilled shot.
Brynn Sinclair made it four with a near post header on 70 minutes and Wall finished off the game with a close range effort in the 88th minute.
A strong start by Mosgiel was rewarded when player coach Cam McPhail powered in a header from a well delivered corner kick. It was 2-0 after 13 minutes when a skilful run by Fernando Montado into the box, released Cody Brooks, who slipped it past Ben Duybk. Technical was struggling to get forward and its fullback pairing of Chris Boomer and Liam Lockhart was working overtime to repel the forward thrusts of Riley Anderton and Cam Anderson.
Anderton had a powerful header cannon off the cross bar. New skipper Rory Findlay went on an unstoppable forward run and his pass found Anderson, who coolly made it 3-0.
Technical tried hard in the second half but could get little going, as Mosgiel displayed some tenacity.
Brooks, Anderton, Findlay and Anderson all impressed for the winners, while Alex Cox was calm on debut.
Roslyn-Wakari started well playing into a strong breeze and went ahead through a penalty to Oliver Colloty after he had been fouled.
Late in the first half Roslyn had another penalty shout waved away and led 1-0 at the break.
Queenstown changed its formation putting Luke Caister into more threatening positions. The equaliser soon came after 50 minutes, when a foul on the edge of the box led to Carlos Hermann bending the free kick over the wall and into the bottom corner.
Queenstown's winning goal came with 15 minutes to go. A diagonal ball found Caister at the back post who headed across the box for Zac Hourston to tap in.
Hourston then had a goal cancelled out and Roslyn thought it had a share of the points when Tennessee Kinghorn scored late, but it was ruled out for a handball in the build up
University delivered a statement of intent after scoring both goals in the first half in beating Caversham.
Dom Scahill scored first fortuitously when the ball connected with his head as he lost his footing But there was no denying the quality of Ben Stanley's second. A 40m cross found Stanley, whose one-touch control took the ball out of the air and his second touch curled the ball back into the top corner.
A central midfield of three, and the extra man in the middle allowed University to see out the match, despite a strong finish from Caversham, in which a fierce Connor Neil effort was well saved by keeper Stu Catto.
Wanaka was too good on the counterattack against Southland and made a great start in its first year in the league. Steve Pleskun scored the first for Wanaka after 12 minutes and then completed a first-half hat trick, scoring again in the 25th and 43rd minutes.
He added a fourth in the second half. Southland replied through Angel Alberto Garcia and Jack Boland.
- Team Wellington will play Eastern Suburbs in the national football premiership final, after Team Wellington upset Auckland City - which dropped just two points all season - 3-1 in yesterday's semifinal.
A day earlier, Suburbs beat Canterbury United 1-0 to win the other semifinal.
The final will be played at 4.35pm on Sunday.
- Neville Watson
