Auckland City v. Waitakere United, 27/02/21

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All Square In Last "Super City Derby"

by Jeremy Ruane

A dramatic injury time equaliser earned Waitakere United a deserved share of the spoils in the 62nd - and last - "Super City Derby" on February 27, as they held arch-rivals Auckland City to a 2-2 draw in the ISPS Handa Premiership clash at Kiwitea Street.

A lively opening saw both goals come under threat inside the first two minutes. City, playing the ball around at the back, nearly came unstuck when Cameron Brown was caught in possession by Alex Greive and Sam Burfoot, but the 'keeper was fouled, much to Auckland's relief.

They responded by carving out an opening at the other end of the park, Logan Rogerson rampaging down the left to the by-line, from where he sent a low cross fizzing across the face of goal, too far in front of his supporting team-mates to capitalise upon.

Seven minutes later, Rogerson was involved again, this time playing the wall in a one-two with Alfie Rogers, whose buccaneering run culminated in a low cross to the near post for Dylan Manickum. Andrew Cromb marshalled him superbly, however - a fine piece of defending by one of United's best-performed players on the day.

The resulting goal-kick resulted in Nathan Lobo sending the ball forward to Dane Schnell, whose round-the-corner pass for Greive caught Adam Mitchell out of position. The striker's progress towards goal was curtailed by the covering run of Brian Kaltak, whose presence in the City backline throughout the campaign has been a critical part of why they boast the league's best defensive record this season.

In the thirteenth minute, Jordan Vale's ball forward allowed Rogerson to get in behind the defence, and he duly rounded the approaching figure of Nick Draper, who not only forced the striker to the by-line but cut out Rogerson's attempt to cut the ball back for Manickum.

The resulting corner was cleared to half-way, but Kaltak belted it back downfield, a teasing ball which lured Draper out of goal. Manickum won the battle for it and set up Mohamed Awad for a chipped effort which landed on the roof of the net.

Yousif Al-Kalisy intercepted a Waitakere pass soon after and instantly sent Rogerson on his way down the left, from where he cut inside and lashed a twenty-five yarder straight at Draper, who was picking the ball out of the net thirty seconds later.

Dylan Hobson's clearance was pounced on by Rogers, who fed Manickum. His through ball invited Rogerson to stride onto the sphere, and he calmly stroked the ball wide of Draper and into the net via the far post in the seventeenth minute.

City were good value for their lead, and nearly doubled it four minutes later. Al-Kalisy and Awad worked a short corner, with the resulting cross flicked skywards by Rogerson. Draper lost the ball in the sun, and but for Nick Milicich's presence on the goal-line, one of the more bizarre goals in the history of the "Super City Derby" may well have resulted.

After this, Waitakere strove to get a foothold in the game, particularly down the right flank, but all too often their penultimate penetrating pass proved ineffective. At the same time, they were always liable to be caught out by the pace of Rogerson.

On the half-hour, Albert Riera and Al-Kalisy combined in midfield to send the speedster scurrying through once more, but Draper anticipated the danger well and secured possession with Rogerson a stride away from doing so,

Draper then kept Waitakere in the contest with a tremendous double-save. Kaltak was guilty of a few stray passes in this match, and this one on half-way was one of them, but United were unable to capitalise. The ball instead broke for Manickum, who worked a one-two with Rogerson before bursting into the area with Cromb and Draper between the striker and the target.

Manickum promptly let fly, hoping Draper would be unsighted by Cromb's presence. Fat chance! The 'keeper plunged to his left to parry the shot, and recovered superbly to grab Awad's attempt to fire home the rebound - great goalkeeping!

United's number one featured again eight minutes before half-time, dashing out of his goal to block another Rogerson raid at close quarters, Al-Kalisy again the source of supply.

Manickum was next to chance his arm - literally - as he turned Milicich and burst through the heart of United's rearguard, but referee Calvin Berg - a much better performance than when last sighted by this writer - was wise to this particular handball offence, and from the resulting free-kick United swept downfield.

They earned another free-kick just outside City's penalty area, an incident which saw a furious Riera booked and Mitchell have to step in to calm his captain's temper - he was not a happy chappy, and that's being polite! Nor was Burfoot after he wasted United's best chance of the first half to equalise, affording Brown catching practice with the resulting set-piece.

Whatever United coach Paul Hobson said in his half-time team talk should be bottled and preserved, because his charges came out all guns blazing from the start of the second half and were hot on attack for its first fifteen minutes.

Sam Brotherton was introduced as a half-time substitute for Auckland, and his first contribution to the match saw him chop down Leon van den Hoven on the edge of the penalty area, a foul which merited a booking. Dylan Hobson lined up the set-piece, the ball duly cannoning off a defensive wall which didn't look to be ten yards away from where the free-kick was taken.

Milicich was being encouraged by United's coaching staff to pinch metres whenever he was taking long throw-ins, an act of gamesmanship every bit as bad, in this writer's eyes, as the time-wasting tactics City looked to utilise in the later stages of the contest.

On this occasion, Milicich's delivery resulted in chaos in Auckland's goalmouth, with Cromb's volley being headed to safety by Brotherton.

Hobson's corner went beyond the far post but wasn't cleared, the ball dropping kindly for Schnell who, from six yards out, skied his effort over the crossbar.

He didn't have long to berate himself, for from the resulting goal-kick, van den Hoven swooped on a loose ball and threaded it through to Schnell, who swept the ball past Brown into the far corner of the net - a 51st minute strike which Waitakere's start to the second spell fully merited.

And they kept on coming. Brown grabbed Gerard Garriga Gibert's header following another Milicich long throw, while a Hobson free-kick wasn't cleared, inviting Schnell to go close once more.

His shot was blocked for a corner, which was cleared to the edge of the penalty area. . Milicich volleyed the ball back into the goalmouth, where Garriga Gibert was unable to get enough purchase on the ball, much to Brown's relief.

From being well on top on the hour, United looked a dispirited side just two minutes later as Auckland, completely against the run of play since half-time, regained the lead with their first attack of the second spell.

Rogers sent the ball down the line to Rogerson, who outpaced Hobson from halfway and bore down on goal before turning Cromb this way and that inside the area, only to turn into traffic in the form of the retreating figure of Hobson and Awad, who literally got in his team-mate's way, much to the fury of the mercurial Rogerson.

He didn't know where to put himself seconds later, however, as Awad made the most of the opportunity, and after seeing his first shot blocked, latched onto the rebound and somehow threaded it between three defenders and Draper into the far corner of the net from an acute angle, to the undisguised delight of the scorer.

Rogerson was far less visibly pleased, however, so much so that he needed to be coaxed by Manickum to go and congratulate Awad, who was pointing at the goal's creator to acknowledge his part in restoring City's advantage. It was disappointing to see such an attitude on display from Auckland's leading goalscorer, but, sadly, that's part of the package where he's concerned.

Waitakere looked to strike back straight away, and they certainly weren't happy campers after Riera brought down Garriga Gibert outside the area. A second booking and subsequent dismissal of City's skipper was what they were after, but referee Berg begged to differ. "It would have been a yellow for Sam Burfoot!" was how United's dugout summed up the incident.

Smart management by City coach Jose Figueira saw Riera swiftly withdrawn from the fray, and he handed the captain's armband over to Emiliano Tade, as he marked his return from injury just in time for the play-offs.

He was swiftly into his stride, only being denied a shooting opportunity on the edge of the area in the 71st minute by van den Hoven's timely challenge. Cue a Waitakere counter-attack in which Greive weaved his way past three opponents before slipping Schnell through the inside left channel.

His return pass was well cut out by Brown, who sparked a City raid which saw Tade release Rogerson on the left. He cut in before returning the ball to the Argentinian, whose sumptuous first-time pass presented Awad with a chance to turn Milicich and let fly. Draper's one-handed save to his left was top class.

In the 76th minute, the freshly introduced Mario Bilen linked with Kaltak and Tade, who brought Al-Kalisy into play. The ball was spread wide to Awad, who fed the overlapping Mitchell. His cross, intended for Rogerson, was brilliantly pawed away by Draper.

Seconds later, Kaltak sent Al-Kalisy scurrying through the middle, the midfielder holding off Milicich before slipping the ball beyond the advancing figure of Draper, only for Milicich to scamper back and clear off the line for the second time in the game.

Ten minutes from time, Al-Kalisy and Tade combined to send Rogerson in on the left. He was held up by Regont Murati, but found Tade inside him. He split the defence with a delicious return pass which put Rogerson in one-on-one with just Draper to beat, a feat he achieved, only to direct his first-time effort past the far post.

Waitakere drew a sharp breath, and tore into City again for the remainder of the contest. Milicich's long throw-in, in the 82nd minute, wasn't cleared, inviting Murati to let fly on the volley. Brown flung himself to his right to turn the ball over the bar.

United pressed again, only for Brown to stand tall twice more, firstly turning Schnell's shot round the post Greive and Garriga Gibert had combined to good effect. The resulting corner found its way to the latter, whose curling effort was pawed away by the goalkeeper.

Into stoppage time we went, with Rogerson racing down the left once more, this time on receipt of another deft touch by Tade following Rogers' ball forward. The speedster slipped the sphere inside for Awad, but Draper plucked the ball off his toes at the near post.

One last surge from Waitakere, and they got their reward. Greive had been a pest to City's defence throughout proceedings, and from an acute angle pulled the ball back for Schnell. Brown blocked his shot, but Garriga Gibert was on hand to tuck home the rebound and keep United's season alive, perhaps setting up a rematch against their arch-rivals in the process.

Auckland: Brown; Vale (Brotherton, 46), Mitchell, Kaltak (booked, 90), Rogers; Carey, Riera (booked, 40) (Tade, 68), Al-Kalisy; Awad, Manickum (Bilen, 75), Rogerson

Waitakere: Draper; Hobson (Duncan, 81), Cromb (booked, 69), Milicich (booked, 36), Lobo; Zoricich (Murati, 34), Garriga Gibert, van den Hoven; Greive, Burfoot (Kilkolly, 81), Schnell

Referee: Calvin Berg

National League