Wellington 3 Waitakere 2
Auckland City are well on their way to another New Zealand Football Championship grand final but long-time rivals Waitakere United have a more anxious wait to see whether they can make it through to their fifth final in six seasons.
City bounced back from the disappointment of their Good Friday 4-1 loss to YoungHeart Manawatu with an emphatic come-from-behind 2-1 away win over Canterbury United in yesterday's first-leg semifinal at English Park.
Further north, Waitakere were also stung by not one but two early strikes from Team Wellington but eventually clawed their way back to claim two handy away goals should that come into the equation after Saturday's second leg at Fred Taylor Park.
Back to full strength after putting out a somewhat makeshift XI two days earlier, minor premiers Auckland City showed their fighting power after falling behind just seven minutes into the game against Canterbury who had finished the regular season in fourth place.
From their first corner, the home side took the lead. Matt Boyd's initial attempt was blocked by City custodian Jacob Spoonley but only as far as Gareth Rowe who scrambled home.
Before the half hour City were in control.
A quick counter-attack and a pin-point James Pritchett cross which Jason Hayne headed home tied it up after 20 minutes. Nine minutes later Daniel Kopricvic pounced on a United defensive error to score for 2-1 and complete the scoring.
The return match will be played at Kiwitea St on Sunday with a draw enough for City to progress to the Anzac Day final.
Canterbury would need to win by at least 2-0 to win through to their second final - four years after their first when they drew 3-3 with Auckland City before losing 4-3 in a penalty shootout.
Waitakere face a tougher task, but a 1-0 home win would be enough to book them a place in the final.
They would not have been so confident after a jittery start at Newtown Park.
With the kick-off delayed following flight problems, United began strongly but failed to convert a couple of early chances and fell behind inside seven minutes when Greg Draper glanced home an Andy Barron corner.
It was the first goal scored by Team Wellington in four play-off encounters with Waitakere. That joy doubled seven minutes later when Barron claimed one for himself and a 2-0 lead.
Stung, the visitors hit back within five minutes when, in a goal reminiscent of last week's opening against Auckland in the O-League decider, Benjamin Totori carved through unchallenged to score.
The teams turned without addition but 11 minutes into the second half Draper hammered home a 25m ripper into the top right hand corner of Danny Robinson's goal for 3-1.
Again the visitors hit back with Allan Pearce heading home a corner to end the scoring at 3-2.
Wellington's coach Stu Jacobs was at Kiwitea St a week earlier to watch Waitakere share the honours in their nerve-jangling 2-2 O-League draw with Auckland City.
Yesterday's win helped boost confidence in the Wellington camp after last year's square-off at the same stage when Waitakere won 1-0 in Wellington and a crushing 5-0 at home a week later.
