The All Whites recorded their first win in just on a year on March 26, seeing off China 2-1 at Sky Stadium in Wellington to the delight of the 10,307 fans present, who witnessed the first goals scored by the national team since that victory over the Solomon Islands in Doha. It was a win Darren Bazeley's charges richly deserved. They were the better team throughout this contest, with Joe Bell taking over the captain's armband in the absence of both the injured Chris Wood and the suspended Tommy Smith. The skipper sparked the All Whites' first attack of note in the match, a ninth minute through ball which invited Alex Greive to let fly. As he was shaping to pull the trigger, however, Chenjie Zhu slid in to produce a perfectly timed tackle which averted the danger. The visitors responded five minutes later, Hanwen Deng's ball forward being laid back by Lei Wu to Shihao Wei, whose thumping twenty-five yarder was tipped over by Oli Sail, who produced an even better denial in the twentieth minute to turn away Wu's attempted lob, after Zhu and Pu Chen had combined to play in the Chinese striker through the inside right channel. Back came the All Whites, a stirring ten-minute spell of pressure during which they mustered seven shots on goal, only to find "The Great Red Wall of China", aka China's defensive set-up, equal to everything. Marco Rojas, who was making just his second appearance for his country since the start of this decade, fired the first of these deadlock-breaking attempts, with Marko Stamenic and Liberato Cacace following suit inside the next six seconds - all three shots were blocked by Chinese defenders in a remarkable 24th minute flurry. Two minutes later, concerted pressure down the right culminated in Stamenic unleashing a twenty-yard volleyed piledriver which was smothered by Junling Yan, who looked on with relief during the next five minutes as a twenty-five yard screamer from Michael Boxall and a ten-yard header from Stamenic both careered narrowly past his posts. The deadlock seemed certain to be broken when the All Whites earned a 32nd minute penalty, Shaocong Wu's clumsy challenge crudely curtailing Elijah Just's driving run into the area, prompting Korean referee Kim Woo Sung to point to the spot. Up stepped Greive with a golden chance to end the All Whites' barren run in front of goal. But it continued, his poor penalty easily saved to his right by Yan, ensuring the deadlock would continue for a few more minutes at least. Come the 42nd minute, however, "The Great Red Wall of China" was finally breached, by an unexpected source. Rojas curled a free-kick into the danger zone, Stamenic having been fouled by Lei Wu to create the set-piece opportunity. Boxall looked to be in an offside position as he started his run to attempt to meet the ball, but failed to do so. His run had attracted the attention of Zhu, however, and it was off his head the ball ricocheted into the net - 1-0 All Whites, courtesy an "oggie". Nearly six-and-a-half games without a goal, and an opponent does the job for you … as they say, any port in a storm!

China's pursuit of an equaliser dominated the early stages of the second spell, but the All Whites stood firm, Sail tipping Yang Liu's thirty yard free-kick over the bar in the 53rd minute. Five minutes later, the 'keeper was in action again, this time parrying a Dun Ba shot to safety after a crunching Linpeng Zhang tackle on Cacace had left the All Whites vulnerable to a counter-attack, one led by Guowen Sun. He played Lei Wu through the inside-right channel on the hour, the striker poking his shot past the advancing figure of Sail but past the post as well. Soon afterwards, a timely Nando Pijnaker tackle prevented Ba from executing a shot on the turn after Liu had made in-roads down the left. Having weathered this storm, the All Whites wrestled back control of the contest, Just going close with a twenty yard volley in the 63rd minute before Bell combined with Clayton Lewis for Max Mata's benefit four minutes later, the striker being thwarted by another timely tackle by Zhu - he was immense at the heart of China's rearguard. Urged on by the crowd, New Zealand began to dominate again to the degree they did in the first half, but it wasn't until the introduction of Matt Garbett fifteen minutes from time that they finally got on top of their opponents, who were done for by the substitute just six minutes after his introduction. Lewis and Bell worked a series of one-twos before the skipper picked out the well-timed run from deep by Garbett, an angled surge towards the inside left channel. One touch to control, the other to unleash an unerring shot across Yan and into the far corner of the net - 2-0, and a rare All Whites win on home turf now in sight, some 67 months after downing the Solomon Islands 6-1 in Auckland in September 2017. Kyle Adams was introduced off the bench for his international debut, while Garbett went close to netting a second goal in the 83rd minute, his twenty-five yarder, to conclude a charging run, grabbing the attention of Yan. China finished strongly, Sail and Adams combining to thwart an 89th minute attack in which Dun Ba and Lei Wu had looked to open up the All Whites defence, something which the substitute would do in stoppage time. Liangming Lin led the charge, linking with Sun on the right. His measured cross to the far post found Ba flying in to meet it, and his header bulleted into the top left-hand corner of Sail's goal to give China some reward for their efforts throughout the two-match series. It was too little, too late to save the outcome of this contest, however, the All Whites returning to the winner's circle for the first time in a year on the back of this 2-1 triumph over a nation New Zealand last defeated on these shores in 1990. All Whites:     Sail; Payne (Elliot, 75), Boxall, Pijnaker (Adams, 82), Cacace; Bell, Rojas (Lewis, 64), Stamenic; Just (Garbett, 75), Greive (Mata, 64), McCowatt (Barbarouses, 82) China:          Yan; Zhang, Zhu, S. Wu (Z. Wei, 46), Y. Liu; X. Wu, Xu (booked, 56) (He, 66); Deng (Sun, 54), L. Wu, S. Wei (Lin, 46 (booked, 86)); Chen (Ba, 46) Referee:     Kim Woo Sung (Korea Republic)