Reigning National, Northern Premier and OFC Champions Leagues title-holders Auckland City kicked off the Dettol Northern Premier League in thrilling fashion at Kiwitea Street on March 15, coming from behind to down Tauranga City 2-1 despite being reduced to nine men after two players were sent off in a fractious second half. The first of two games brought forward to accommodate their OFC Champions League commitments in Honiara in a fortnight's time, City found themselves behind the eight-ball just 103 seconds into the match, as Tauranga opened the scoring. Nathan Lobo received a bad pass and compounded the error by under-hitting his own towards Nathan Garrow. Liam Molloy was onto the opening in an instant, and as the 'keeper raced out of his penalty area in a bid to avert the danger, confidently took the ball past him before firing home into an empty net, despite the best efforts of the retreating Adam Mitchell to prevent the inevitable. Stunned by the early setback, City tucked into the challenge facing them with gusto, first threatening in the tenth minute. Jerson Lagos and Otto Ingham combined on the left, with the former bringing David Yoo into play. His clever lobbed pass over the defence rewarded the well-timed run of Matt Ellis, who lifted the dropping ball over Tauranga goalkeeper Ryan Food but just over the crossbar as well. Four minutes later, "The Navy Blues" threatened again, Lagos' twenty-five yard free-kick arcing over the wall, only to draw a fine flying save from Foord, who tipped the ball onto the post, then quickly recovered to prevent Ingham from tucking home the rebound. Auckland grew in confidence from these close calls, and by the time the first half was halfway through, every Tauranga player could be found in his own half of the pitch. Before the half-hour mark, the home team's pressure was such that the visitors were hemmed in within forty yards of their own goal. They survived this stern examination, however, even to the point of breaking out and forcing a corner, which saw Molloy's delivery punched out from beneath his crossbar by Garrow, who parried an Axel Acebo piledriver to safety in the 34th minute after Colby Brennan latched onto Adam Davidson's pass, only to be thwarted at close quarters by Auckland's goalkeeper. Another Molloy corner, in the 37th minute, saw Reuben Barr beat Garrow in the air, only to see his header hit the underside of the crossbar and rebound back into the goalmouth. Auckland scrambled the danger to safety, then produced the final attack of note in the half four minutes later, a quickfire interchange of passes involving Myer Bevan, Ingham and Yoo culminating in the last-mentioned unleashing a twenty-yarder which Foord did well to save. There was more of the same in the second spell, with Auckland this time attacking the Mt Albert Road end of Freyberg Field, as the ground at Kiwitea Street is officially known. Mitchell and Ingham combined for Lagos to let fly in the 55th minute, only for Foord to plunge to his right and maintain his clean sheet. Three minutes later, substitute Haris Zeb worked a one-two with Bevan, with Zeb's resulting low cross inviting Yoo to let fly. Davidson's timely block ensured Tauranga could breathe again, but only for a few seconds.

For from the resulting corner, Auckland equalised, the unmarked Mario Ilich heading home Lagos' delivery to the near post to finally reward the home team's persistence in their pursuit of parity. Within seconds, the home team went close to taking the lead, Bevan firing narrowly over the bar from fifteen yards. But Auckland's prospects of going on to win were dealt a blow in the 63rd minute when Mitchell retaliated in response to a challenge from the provocative Molloy - he'd been baiting opponents all game long, and finally got a bite - which saw referee Ashley Wilson reaching for his back pocket. Out came the red card, and Auckland were down to ten. After adjusting to their situation, "The Navy Blues" came again, substitute Tong Zhou seeing a shot blocked by Davidson after Zeb and Bevan had worked the opening in the 72nd minute. Within sixty seconds, however, Mr Wilson was brandishing the red card for a second time, Zhou cutting a mortified figure after his sliding, studs-raised challenge, while not making contact with an opponent, saw the official administering punishment based on intent. Thus Auckland were reduced to nine men for the final seventeen minutes of play, plus stoppage time. Within five minutes, Tauranga had the ball in the back of the net courtesy Brennan, but after consulting with his assistant, referee Wilson ruled it out for offside against one of the scorer's team-mates. You would think that with a two-man advantage, the visitors would have kicked on and taken all three points back home with them to the Bay of Plenty. The reality was, they made a tactical blunder of the highest proportions, and carried on as if they were still up against a full-strength Auckland side. They carried on playing with four at the back, even though Bevan and Zeb were taking turns in offering an attacking threat. There were only two occasions in the final minutes when Tauranga threatened to score, and on both instances, Garrow came up trumps, thwarting shots from Van Fitzharris on each occasion. Meanwhile, Auckland's reduced ranks rebuffed their rivals, and grew in confidence - could they find a way to win this, despite their numerical inferiority? A raid down the right in the first minute of stoppage time gave them hope, Jordan Vale sending a bullet header past the near post after Bevan and Zeb had combined down the right. Seven minutes later, a relieving clearance found Zeb, who promptly sent Bevan powering through a square Tauranga back-line to leave himself one-on-one with Foord. The All White of recent vintage slipped his shot past the 'keeper, only to see the sphere rebound off the post. With defenders racing back towards goal, Bevan reacted quickly to ram the ball home at the second attempt, a goal which left Tauranga's players shell-shocked as the Auckland faithful delighted in the nine men's against-the-odds 2-1 triumph at the death. Auckland:     Garrow; Connolly (den Heijer, 64), Mitchell (sent off, 63), Boxall (booked, 70), Lobo; Yoo (Vale, 83), Ilich, Ingham (Zeb, 56); Ellis (Zhou, 56 (sent off, 73)), Bevan (booked, 90), Lagos Tauranga:     Foord; Fisher-Vanderveen (booked, 90), Acebo (booked, 69 (Hawkes, 85)), Barr, Daly (booked, 84); Reid (Crawford, 75), Molloy, Davidson; Brennan (Dennis, 82), Wellsbury, Fitzharris Referee:     Ashley Wilson