Wanganui Athletic's Zeb Small follows the ball as Levin's Aaron Lange slides past it at Wembley Park.
The Western Premiership saw a day of twists and turns as Devon Homes Wanganui Athletic made another strong step towards a title tilt as they claimed a 5-3 victory over the Levin AFC 1sts at Wembley Park on Saturday.
Meanwhile, only nine men saw out the full 90 minutes for the Wanganui City Renovators as they fell to Hokowhitu 4-2 in the Western Premiership. It was a tough off-season for Athletic, after losing a few experienced players and self-demoting themselves down a league in an effort to rebuild.
But it appears those decisions are starting to pay off in a big way, coupled with some clever international recruiting and promotion of youth, as they now sit third on the table, just three points from the top with a game in hand.
Marching out against Levin on Saturday was a team draped in red that looked ready to take the game to the visitors and bring home the result.
Even with a mish-mash back four - made up from an injured goalkeeper, youthful inexperience, and veteran players - Athletic still looked like they were out to play for each other no matter what.
A solid first half performance was in store as Athletic looked to move the ball around quickly and put the visitors on the back foot early, and it was with this style of play that the Reds found their most promising phases. It wasn't until they tried to be a bit too fancy, and forced play, that things started to break down and they allowed Levin a sniff into the match. However, it was the composed patches that ensured Athletic finished the match with a 5-3 victory.
While being able to put five goals in the back of the net is usually the result a team would be looking for, it was the conceding three goals at the same time which should bring concerns for the Athletic coaching staff.
Enough was done to keep themselves comfortably ahead at the final whistle, but they'll need to look to quickly settle on a back four to offer some consistency if they're to maintain their position when they face off against the teams who sit ahead of them.
It was another loss for the Wanganui City Renovators, but one which coach Tex von Kwiatowski took positives from after the massive defeat to Athletic the weekend before.
Going up against Hokowhitu, the young City development team knew they had a lot to do going into the match, facing the league's highest-scoring team, who also hold the title for the most miserly defence.
The Renovators did well and retained a lot of possession, only to turn the ball over cheaply and concede a couple of early goals - putting themselves under unwanted pressure going into the halftime break.
Coming out in the second half, the Renovators again started to get themselves into the game, returning the physical nature of the play to prevent themselves from simply being pushed off the ball. Just as they were starting to look like they were gaining a foothold, central midfielder and captain Ben Toyne was shown his second yellow of the match after questioning the referee on a couple of his decisions, leaving the side without its experienced leader to steady the ship. The introduction of Neihana Kahl not long after this proved fruitful for City, as he notched his 10th goal for the season. But it was his emotions that shortly got himself into trouble, as he attracted the ire of the referee and was also sent from the field.
Max Davidson added a second goal to the visitors' tally, but his efforts were not enough to give the Renovators a share of the points, as Hokowhitu took advantage of the extra players they had on the park and put the game out of reach in extra time.
The result will be disappointing for City, and being without two crucial players going into their next match will hurt the Renovators, who slipped to fifth on the table after the loss.