KEY POINTS:
Chris Milicich is expecting no favours when he puts his Waitakere United side out for the second match of their weekend double-header against Waikato FC at Trusts Stadium today.
The Waitakere coach is fully aware victory will allow them to put a decent break on the pack but
they are up against a side who know they can leapfrog several other rivals with a win.
With the three points from Saturday's 4-2 win over always-competitive Auckland City in the bank, Waitakere can kick four points clear of surprise second-placed Hawkes Bay United and still have the advantage of having a game in hand.
"We know it won't be easy," Milicich said after the win over City. "Dave Edmonson will have his boys fired up ... Waikato will be a force to be reckoned with."
Waikato go into the clash on the back of a solid 3-1 home win over Canterbury United in Ngaruawahia after taking an early lead through Nik Keown-Robson. Canterbury got back to 1-1 before halftime but second-half goals from Alex Barlow and then Waitakere United discard Graham Pearce sealed their fifth win of the season.
Milicich has some calls to make before settling on his team for today.
Jake Butler is out - an automatic one-match suspension after being shown his fourth yellow card in seven outings - but Danny Hay, Jason Rowley and Daniel Kopricvic are back in the frame. Allan Pearce, given 25 minutes as a substitute in his comeback appearance, could also be in.
Milicich will also need to consider his goalkeeping options.
Richard Gillespie was unavailable for Saturday's game. In his place Danny Robinson did nothing wrong and pulled off one world-class save.
Unlike the limp effort a week earlier when Waitakere and Hawkes Bay played out a scoreless draw, the derby clash was full of drama. The visitors had few scoring chances in the first spell as Waitakere, with a deft Neil Emblen header from a Jeff Campbell left-wing corner and a controversial goal from Roy Krishna, took a handy 2-0 halftime lead.
Less than two minutes into the second half City's Matt Friel slammed home a Ki-Hyung Lee corner kick to close the gap but when Kayne Vincent tapped home a Benjamin Totori shot which rebounded off goalkeeper Ross Nicholson and when Totori ripped home the goal of the game from outside the penalty area for 4-1 with 17 minutes to play, the points were safe.
City got one back with a penalty after a dubious call from referee Jamie Cross but that late strike was their lot.
Elsewhere, Hawkes Bay United banged home three second-half goals for a 5-2 away win over Team Wellington yesterday and YoungHeart Manawatu scored one in each half to beat Otago United 2-0 in Palmerston North.