The Dunedin City Royals marked a return to form in the Southern League with an emphatic 7-0 win over FC Twenty 11 in Christchurch on Saturday.
Hayden Aish opened the scoring in the first minute, and Connor Neil’s brace took him to 10 goals for the season to move into the fourth place in the Golden Boot race.
Sharpshooter Ben Stanley was not to be outdone when he made it 4-0 after 21 minutes, scoring his 11th goal of the season to stay ahead of Neil in third spot.
The halftime advantage allowed Royals coach Richard Murray the opportunity to give his bench a run, and Hugh Jack made it 5-0 within six minutes of being introduced in the 57th minute.
Another substitute, Dafydd Spratt, took only five minutes to get on the scoresheet on 79 minutes after replacing Neil.
En Watanabe wrapped up the scoring in injury time, and the win takes the Royals back to third place in the league.
Green Island’s home game against Nomads was transferred to the revamped Tahuna Park — which will prove a great venue for Dunedin clubs to share — following the Swiss team’s departure.
Nomads had the better of the opening period as Green Island took some time to settle.
Green Island’s front three of Harrison McLean, Trevin Myers and Stefan Milidrag started to combine well, and Myers’ inswinging corner was dropped by keeper Regan Frame but not to the feet of anyone in green.
A well-worked attacking move on 24 minutes pulled Nomads apart, and Weston Bell’s cross led to a Jacob Anderson own goal as Milidrag was ready to pounce.
Nomads equalised against the run of play when Lorenzo Gauci scored from close range after 32 minutes.
With only two points separating the teams on the table, it looked like heading for a stalemate until Nomads substitute Luca MacLeod-Watts broke the deadlock with only four minutes remaining to seal a 2-1 win.
In the ODT Men’s Southern Premiership, Wanaka continued their unbeaten home record when overcoming Green Island reserves 3-1.
Wanaka dominated possession for long periods with Green Island looking to break on the counter.
The deadlock was finally broken in the 67th minute when, against the run of play, Green Island were awarded a penalty after a handball and Sam Dore made no mistake from the spot.
Wanaka equalised a minute later when Barry Grehan also scored from the spot following a handball.
The home side took the lead when Blake Lang finished off an attack with a close-range header.
Al Carmichael had a rifled left-foot effort chalked off for offside before Wanaka made sure of all three points when a break down the left was followed by Carmichael being on hand to tap in Flynn Brown’s cut-back pass.
Mosgiel remain top of the table following a 3-0 home win over Queen’s Park.
All three Mosgiel attackers — Taylor Donaldson, Rhys Quarrell and George Duncan — got on the scoresheet before halftime.
Northern travelled to Queenstown and recorded a 2-0 victory.
Following Queenstown skipper Cohen Nash’s own goal on 13 minutes, Gian Krauer’s 54th-minute goal made the game safe as Northern remain in third spot.
The Dunedin City Royals reserves showed their resilience to beat Northern Hearts 3-2.
Goals to Tyler Muir and Ben McLean had the Royals 2-0 up after 24 minutes, before Hearts pulled a goal back right on halftime through Kevin McLaughlin and Isaiah Nelson-White scored the equaliser soon after the restart.
McLean’s second goal of the game after 56 minutes gave the Royals a much-needed win.
Yesterday, Roslyn-Wakari had to dig deep and left it late to overcome a valiant University 1-0 at Ellis Park.
Nathan Wilkie hit the woodwork for Roslyn but the students, through George Willetts, looked more likely to score.
Roslyn keeper Tom Stevens made some top saves to keep his side in the game, and Callum Smith curled an injury-time winner to keep Roslyn unbeaten and in second place.
— Neville Watson
