City then had to fight hard against a team who never looked out of the match, and were always pushing towards City's goal with fervour.
Havelock North came close several times to levelling the score, were it not for City's coach Kelvin Francis, who was again playing custodian between the sticks for the home side.
With time ticking on, each team gave themselves plenty of opportunities to swing the game in their favour, but neither was able to stamp their authority decisively and bring the match home.
As the final whistle approached, Francis was quietly asked if he was happy where his team sat, to which he replied, "I would be happier if we had another goal".
His wishes were nearly answered with City's mercurial young winger Reuben Warburton firing a spectacular shot towards Havelock's goal, only to have it ricochet off the inside upright and back into the field of play.
Not long after, Francis and City's defence had to weather a determined onslaught from the visitors, who peppered the goal area with attacks, but ultimately came up well short and couldn't breach the City's line before the whistle sounded.
The match was a crucial victory for City and will surely have lifted their spirits and belief, as they look ahead to hosting North End at Wembley.
It was another valiantly fought match on the main ground as Wanganui Athletic went close with their own stubborn defence of a slim lead against league leaders Hokowhitu.
The Reds went ahead through goals from Hishi Lama and club stalwart Scott Burney, which put the home side in what seemed a strong position.
But Hokowhitu were not there to make up numbers and forced their way back into the match, putting a goal past stand-in keeper Shane Wye to give the game a bit of spice heading into the dying minutes.
Athletic looked the stronger of the two sides, but it seemed again that late changes to the squad meant their fluidity was broken, causing simple mistakes to occur at the wrong time.
The home side gave themselves plenty of opportunities to take the match clearly in their favour, but it was Hokowhitu who had the last laugh, as they again found the back of the net, bringing the scores level with only minutes left.
A final push by Athletic set Scott Burney on goal, but the feeding pass needed to be put through a second or two earlier, as the resulting pass was just beyond the hungry striker and collected easily by Hokowhitu's keeper, who cleared it as the final whistle sounded.
Athletic will again rue missed opportunities, especially against such a high-profile opponent as Hokowhitu, with the draw leaving them locked in third place for another week.
In other games away from home in the Western Premiership, the Wanganui City Reserves battled to a decisive 3-2 victory over Linton, lifting themselves to eighth place and just one win away from catching their club's development team.
Collective experience proved stronger than youthful exuberance as the City Renovators tumbled to a 3-1 defeat at the hands of the Red Sox Manawatu A's, showing there's still plenty of work to do for the Renovators as they look to build for next season.
