It was a day of unusually tight scorelines in most fixtures at Wembley Park on Saturday in the men's and women's local leagues, with some unexpected results and a few typical blowouts to round out the day.
In the men's league, the opening round saw Castlecliff United hosted Marist Celtic and ultimately lost 3-1. United performed well to hold Celtic to a reasonable score in a match in which Celtic missed several great opportunities to increase their goal difference.
Wanganui Collegiate walked away 5-1 victors after a great showing against the Marist Casuals. In what was a game of missed opportunities, and goals against the run of play, the injury-stricken Casuals were unable to make the most of owning possession for most of the match, with Collegiate using their pace to beat the defenders and put themselves in on goal.
The Total Automotive Wanganui City Hammers kept their three-point buffer at the top of the table after a resounding 7-1 victory over the Castlecliff Braves. Braves will be reeling, as they surely had the belief they could have got some points from this match, but again, the Hammers showed there's a reason why they sit atop the table, sporting just a single draw in an undefeated season to date.
The second round of the day saw the Wanganui City Reserves go up against the Marist Bhoys, in what turned out to be one of the more closely fought battles of the day. Both teams came out and played a fair, physical game, with neither willing to let the other walk away with an easy win. City went ahead after about 20 minutes of play, only for the Bhoys to strike back within minutes to lock the match up. With the match looking like it was heading for a draw, young Jack Jonas put the Bhoys ahead, securing himself a brace for the day and three points for Marist with 30 seconds remaining.