KEY POINTS:
With coach Steve Cain many kilometres away enjoying the delights of New Caledonia, his Waitakere United players handed stand-in coach Kevin Hagan the biggest win of their NZFC season - 5-1 over struggling Otago.
After a tentative start, the home side gave the small crowd at Trusts Stadium something to savour ahead of Wednesday's big O-League battle at the same ground when they go head-to-head with Auckland City in a much anticipated clash.
If they play as they did for the first half hour, Waitakere will struggle. Turn in something close to what they produced in the last 60 minutes and they will be a chance to score a first win over City after nine straight losses.
Adopting a 3-5-2 formation - and with Danny Hay a surprise starter in central defence - Waitakere lacked imagination and go-forward early but once they attacked with some width through Price Quansah and Allan Pearce, they stretched the visitors and the goals flowed.
The first came after 38 minutes when Waitakere broke quickly. A couple of half chances were blocked before the ball fell to Daniel Koprivcic, who pushed home from close range. In the first minute of stoppage time, Commins Menapi chased deep and played the ball towards the far post. Attempting to snatch it, Otago goalkeeper Peter Evans succeeded only in turning the ball into his own net.
Two goals in the opening 10 minutes of the second spell killed off the visitors' hopes. Quansah was brought down by Jesse Molloy and Pearce converted from the spot. Koprivcic quickly grabbed his second with a simple header from a Jeff Campbell corner. He completed his hat-trick when he scored virtually unchallenged for 5-0 with 17 minutes to play.
The visitors got one back late in the game when, clearly from an offside position, Andy Coburn beat Michael Utting from close range.
Manawatu kept themselves in the title race with a 3-1 win at Canterbury. Ahead 1-0 at halftime after Hayden Laird's 19th minute strike, the visitors retained that advantage at the break after Canterbury missed a penalty.
Ian Sandbrook worked a one-two with Benjamin Totori to score for 2-0 after 50 minutes. Two minutes into stoppage time, Totori unselfishly set up Alick Maemae to increase the lead before substitute Greg Draper scored for the home side in the 94th minute.
Cain will return from Noumea after watching Auckland City play AS Mont Dore in the O-League's first game happy that Waitakere have retained their four-point buffer over Manawatu and that Canterbury are all but out of the race.
