Wānaka showed true character when they beat South Island league champions and national league participants Cashmere Tech 3-2 at the Recreation Centre on Saturday.
Many a visiting team have found this a difficult venue and Cashmere were no different.
A dream start by Wānaka found them 2-0 up after 27 minutes when Stephen Sprowson scored following skipper Jake Thompson’s 10th-minute opener.
Realising Cashmere would come out and attack after the break, Wānaka changed their style to consolidate and played a more counter-attacking style to absorb the visitors’ pressure, but conceded only two minutes after the restart when Yuya Taguchi pulled one back.
While it looked like Wānaka would hold on for a valuable three points, a last-minute equaliser to Danny Kane looked to have spoiled the day for coach Ben Sippola.
However, his side showed their mettle to win it deep into injury time when Thompson cut the ball back to substitute Eddie Belingher, whose first-time finish in the 96th minute ensured Wānaka their second win in their debut season.
Sippola said the win would have to go down as the biggest in club history.
In Christchurch, the Dunedin City Royals claimed their second successive clean-sheet victory with a comfortable 2-0 win over Nomads.
The Royals started well, bringing intensity, physicality and well-organised play, having done a lot of training during the week on team structure and shape off the ball.
Early pressure from the Royals led to them testing Nomads keeper Regan Frame regularly.
Nomads had an opportunity after 18 minutes as they won possession in the midfield and broke from halfway, but Royals keeper Alex Boomer pulled off a great save.
Other than that, Nomads struggled to find a way through the Royals, who won the ball regularly through the midfield duo of Hugh Jack and Max Davidson.
They found space and time to link play well and allow probing runs by Brady Jacobs, En Watanabe, Connor Neil and the hard-running Jack Julian, leading to several attacks on goal that had the Nomads defence pinned back well.
Frame was kept busy, making three important saves, but it was only a matter of time before the Royals broke the deadlock.
In the 27th minute, Neil was bundled over by Frame for a penalty, which Neil calmly slotted to the keeper’s left, leaving the Royals with a deserved l-0 lead going into the break.
Nomads started the second half well but found Boomer in top form.
The Royals went up 2-0 after they worked on the counterattack and Jacobs was given space and time on the left flank to drive his pass to Neil on the edge of the box.
Neil’s excellent shot found the bottom corner, giving Frame no chance.
Late Royals substitute Rhys Christie’s mazy run deserved a goal when his dribbling helped him twist and turn to beat five Nomads defenders inside the box, but his strike missed by a whisker.
— Northern made it two wins from two in the ODT Southern Premiership with a comfortable 6-0 victory over Roslyn-Wakari.
University also claimed their second consecutive win with a 4-0 victory over Old Boys.
An early goal to Ashton Hodson may have opened the floodgates, but Old Boys dug deep and held the students out for another 50 minutes.
It took a George Willetts goal on 61 minutes to ease the tension before American import Jackson Wolf and Luke Tolo-Kent scored late goals to give the students six points after two rounds.
The Dunedin City Royals became the third team to claim back-to-back victories with a 4-1 win in Timaru over Northern Hearts.
Jack Caldwell gave the Royals the lead midway through the first half, but Kevin McLaughlin equalised nine minutes before the break.
An early second-half goal to Cato Williams was followed by Ryan Fleming’s 71st-minute effort and Sam Hawkes’ late goal.
Mosgiel beat Queens Park 4-3 in Invercargill.
A Reese Burtenshaw brace and a headed goal by Javier Langley gave Mosgiel a 3-0 lead at halftime.
Queens Park pulled one back when Anton Fitzgerald cleverly flicked the ball over the head of Dan Robinson, before Burtenshaw restored the buffer and claimed his hat-trick.
Fitzgerald scored from the penalty spot to give the home side hope with 18 minutes left, and when Zac Owen-Gear reduced the deficit further in injury time, Mosgiel were forced to hold out for the remaining four minutes to claim a valuable three points.
— In the Women's South Island League, the Dunedin City Royals and Otago University maintained their 100% unbeaten record after three rounds, with both matches played at the Logan Park turf.
Royals entertained local rivals Roslyn Wakari and came from behind to lead 2-1 at halftime thanks to Hannah Mackay-Wright and Amy Hislop.
The floodgates opened in the second half for the Royals to blow the final score out to 8-2, with Hislop claiming her hat-trick and Kylie Jones bagging a brace.
University beat NW United 3-1.
The results mean the Royals and University are on level pegging in terms of points with 9 each, with the Royals ahead only on goal difference.
— Neville Watson
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