It should be a grand Wembley Park derby next weekend after both The Big Orange Wanganui City 1sts and GVCA Accountants Wanganui Athletic Reserves picked up comfortable Horizons Premiership home victories on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the Devon Homes Athletic 1sts showed great heart but could not push through one more goalfor another comeback draw in the Lotto Federation League, losing to contenders New Plymouth Rangers 2-1 up at Merrilands.
The Reserves accounted for BB Construction North End 1sts 5-2 on Wembley Park No1, with Jude Hiri grabbing two goals for the home side.
Nusr Ghamri, Richard Dalby and Raymond Hove also found the back of the net.
Wanganui City sit on top of the table after their second straight win, beating a fit and eager Palmerston North Boys High 1st XI 3-0 on No2.
Wanganui City's Anthony Bell looks to keep the ball away from the PNBHS player, watched on by double goal scorer Jack Jonas.
Photo/Sharon Francis
Coach Kelvin Francis said the first half was error ridden, although City started swiftly as they looked to gain ascendancy on the school boys, being thwarted by some miscommunication and good goalkeeping, with the posts being struck a few times before Jack Jonas knocked one in to give them the 1-0 advantage at the break.
"The second half saw a much improved effort with passes now hitting the mark and again the goal being rattled - Jonas bagged another for a brace and Anthony Bell also found the back of the auld onion bag to cap of a slick passing movement," said Francis.
As goal keeper Glenn Graham finished with another clean sheet, City's positive 11 goal differential keeps them ahead of the Hokowhitu FC Rangers as the only unbeaten teams remaining after just two games.
MVP was Adrian Ngaau after a typically solid shift at centre back, while Jonas got an MVP point for each goal, and captain Latham Berry picked up one point for his hard graft in the middle.
Francis felt improvements will need to be made ahead of facing the Athletics Reserves, although he was happy enough to "play ugly" and still get maximum points.
The Athletic 1sts fought back hard in their high tension game with the Rangers, but a rough start after conceeding a goal to Ranger Lee Conley after eight minutes and having a couple of calls go against them, meant the 2-0 deficit at halftime could not be overcome this week.
New Plymouth Ranger Max Middleton was sent flying by this perfectly timed challenge from Athletic 1sts defender David Glaister at Merrilands.
Keeper Matthew Calvert had blocked Ranger Dom Squatriti's shot and then parried the first effort by Conley, but could not get to the followup.
Squatriti caught out Athletic's defence with a through ball interception and sent his pass to De St Croix to tap it in at the far post for the second goal in the 32nd minute.
But the visitors were still in the fight and even without the majority of possession in the second half, they hassled the Rangers across the park to make the game scrappy, with the Taranaki side getting picked up for early runs into offside positions.
Rangers then got caught with Quinn Mailman credited with the goal after a cross caught a deflection amongst the defenders and hit the back of the net.
Athletic could have had a first half goal except Rangers keeper James Burroughs went for a brave one-on-one save and took a heavy blow to the side of the face - completing the match before being taken to New Plymouth Base Hospital where it was confirmed he suffered concussion.
"It's easy to say we were unlucky, but you make your own luck," said Athletic coach Jason King.
"We're certainly a second half team at the moment, but they were expecting that.
"There were a few calls not going our way, but the referee was human."
Simon King and David Glaister fought hard in centre field, while David Garner and Jordan Candish - coming up from the Reserves for the Easter Weekend - were also standouts.
Left in fifth spot on the table, Jason King said they had tested themselves against a physical team and if they can lift their game to a full 90 minute performance, they can approach the table-topping Rangers with confidence in the return game later this winter.
Athletic will now prepare to face Massey Men's 1st this Saturday at Wembley.
