If you are a football fan in the Waikato then the ISPS Handa Premiership table is good viewing right now.

It is early days, but Hamilton Wanderers, who won only one game in the 2017 – 18 season when they claimed the wooden spoon, are joint top after two full rounds of the competition alongside Eastern Suburbs, Auckland City and Team Wellington.

The Ricki Herbert-coached side won their second game in a row when they defeated Tasman United 2-1 at Trafalgar Park in Nelson this afternoon to keep pace with the league frontrunners.

Auckland City, who defeated Team Wellington and Tasman United in their opening two games, were denied the chance to go top on their own after a water-logged field at the Caledonian Ground in Dunedin forced their match with Southern United to be postponed.

Eastern Suburbs, who defeated the Wellington Phoenix Reserves 2-0 yesterday, have also been impressive in the early stages and are top on goal difference, while Team Wellington delivered a clinical performance to beat Waitakere United 3-0 away from home, but Wanderers have been the surprise package so far.

They fortuitously took the lead in front of a good crowd in Nelson before half-time when Tasman defender Sam Ayers turned the ball into the back of his own net after an even first 45 minutes.

Soon after the break, Wanderers’ keeper Matthew Oliver pulled off a stunning save to deny Kiernan Hughes-Mason from close range. It was a big moment as American Joseph Terry came off the bench minutes later to put Wanderers 2-0 up.

Tasman’s Ahmed Othman scored a special goal in the final minutes, but Herbert’s team completed a perfect start to the season. There will be some interest to see if they can continue this run at home against Southern United in Match Week Four. 

Further north, two-time champions Team Wellington showed their quality once again with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Waitakere United in West Auckland.

The Jose Figueira-coached side got off to an ideal start when referee Antony Riley ruled that Jack-Henry Sinclair was taken down in the box in the fourth minute. Former Phoenix striker Hamish Watson finished from the spot for his fourth goal in the three games.

The score remained 1-0 deep into the second half, until the three-time finalists scored twice in the final 10 minutes secured an important three points away from home.

Mario Ilich found the back of the net with a well-timed left foot strike in the 79^th minute before Ross Allen scored the third within two minutes of coming onto the field.

Team Wellington look title contenders once again while Waitakere United will have to regroup after a slow start to the 2018 – 19 campaign.

“I think that is probably our best performance of the season so far,” said Team Wellington Head Coach Figuiera. “The way we dominated the game, our positioning and our quality on the ball was excellent today. We are starting to find our rhythm and we need to keep rolling on.”

Down in Napier, the Canterbury United Dragons thought they had three points in the bag before Hawke’s Bay United’s Paul Ifill scored deep in injury time to secure a valuable point for the home side.

Hawke’s Bay United broke the deadlock when Maxime Oliveri finished off a lay off from Cory Chettleburgh in first-half injury time.

The Dragons, who opened their season with a victory at home over Southern United, took a 2-1 lead through two goals in four minutes to captain Gary Ogilvie and Stephen Hoyle midway through the second half.

But Hawke’s Bay United never gave up and Ifill came off the bench and was in the thick of a final attacking move. He was on hand to slot home what was a popular late goal with the locals.

Match week three of the ISPS Handa Premiership delivered plenty of intrigue and four teams Eastern Suburbs, Auckland City, Team Wellington and Hamilton Wanderers top the table in the early stages.  

ISPS Handa Premiership Match Week Three

Hawke’s Bay United 2 (Maxime Oliveri 45’ + 3’, Paul Ifill 90’ + 4’)
Canterbury United 2 (Gary Ogilvie 56’, Stephen Hoyle 60’)
HT: 1-0

Southern United v Auckland City
Match postponed due to flooded field  

Tasman United 1 (Ahmed Othman 87’)
Hamilton Wanderers 2 (Own goal 43’, Joseph Terry 69’)
HT: 0-1 

Waitakere United 0
Team Wellington 3 (Hamish Watson pen 4’, Mario Ilich 79’, Ross Allen 81’)
HT: 0-1

Eastern Suburbs 2 (Dominic Wooldridge 6’, Andre de Jong 25’)
Wellington Phoenix Reserves 0
HT: 2-0

For the ISPS Handa Premiership table and other information please click here

Article added: Sunday 28 October 2018