KEY POINTS:
Waitakere United head into the most important week of their season missing key players at either end of the field.
Captain Danny Hay is out of the remaining two New Zealand Football Championship regular season matches while striker and golden boot contender Benjamin Totori will be on the sideline for tomorrow's home game against Hawke's Bay United at Trusts Stadium.
Hay, shown a red card for the first time in his long career, copped a two-match ban for "violent conduct" after referee Matt Conger acted on the advice of linesman Conrad Dickson-Burrows early in last Sunday's game in Palmerston North.
Totori serves a mandatory one-match suspension after receiving his fourth yellow card of the season in the same match.
Hay's card was one of many in a discipline spree last weekend.
In the four matches, 29 yellow cards and four reds were shown.
The upshot sees almost all teams without a player or two at the business end of a season in which officiating, with one or two notable exceptions, has left plenty to be questioned.
Choosing his words carefully, Waitakere coach Chris Milicich admitted he had been bemused by the call to send Hay off.#"It is frustrating that a linesman has a player sent off for an incident which happened in a congested area of the pitch where probably 20 players were in the immediate vicinity," said Milicich. "He flagged what he saw but when it results in a Manawatu player laughing and clapping afterwards you get a better idea of what might or might not have happened."
Graham Pearce will return to the squad in Hay's place while Fijian Roy Krishna is set to start in Totori's absence.
Krishna did not see any game time in Palmerston North - a direct result of Hay's early departure.#"He would have had a big chunk of time on the pitch if Danny had not been sent off," said Milicich. "Now we have to turn our attention to Hawke's Bay. We don't want to muck this one up. It is crucial we finish our season on a high."
Equal on points with Auckland City at the top of the table but with a game in hand and a superior goal difference, Waitakere can all but wrap the title up tomorrow.
They will, however, keep a wary eye on Team Wellington's game against Otago on Sunday as they strive to join City on 47 points and edge ahead of them on goal difference before their big clash at Kiwitea St on Sunday week.
