Soccer: Tight finish to ASB Premiership playoff race

Canterbury United skipper Aaron Clapham.

Waitakere United and Canterbury United will scrap it out for the last remaining ASB Premiership play-off spot next weekend following a thrilling penultimate round of action today.

For the first time in the competition's history either Hawke's Bay United or Team Wellington will come second in the regular season, and put one foot in the door of the OFC Champions League, after both sides scored late winners to confirm their spots in the top four.

Any one of four teams in the top five were in danger of missing the cut heading into the weekend and Hawke's Bay left it till the 90th minute to secure their spot when defender Aaron jones headed home a late winner in their 2-1 win over Canterbury.

Canterbury captain Aaron Clapham earlier cancelled out a Tom Biss strike with his eighth goal of the season from the penalty spot. Hawke's Bay now just need a point from their final match with Auckland to take second place.

Wellington left it late to confirm their play-off spot with three goals in the last 15 minutes earning them a 4-1 win over Wanderers SC. Henry Fa'arodo (2), Colin Murphy and Sam Mason-Smith scored for Wellington after Judd Baker had equalised in the 54th minute. The capital men can still make second place if Hawke's Bay lose to Auckland and they can beat WaiBOP next weekend.

If Auckland go on to win the ASB grand final, the league runner-up will automatically gain qualification to the OFC Champions League next year, which is a likely proposition given Auckland's form.

Ramon Tribulex's side celebrated their minor premiership title by racking up a record goal-haul against struggling Southern United in Dunedin.

Eight different players found the net in the 10-0 romp as Southern United completely destructed, conceding eight second half goals. It was the largest win in the ten-year history of the competition.

On Saturday, WaiBOP played spoiler to Waitakere, holding them to a 1-1 draw in a frantic match which involved two red cards, two goalkeeper injuries, a penalty and ten minutes of added time.

Jack McNab opened the scoring for WaiBOP in the 61st minute before midfielder Alex Varela was sent off with 20 minutes to go.

Waitakere equalised after 80 minutes through Richie Cardozo but were unable to break WaiBOP down again, with Chad Coombes eventually picking up a last minute red-card when his frustration boiled over.