Waiuku took on the top of the table Fencibles team keen to keep their home unbeaten run in tact. Fencibles, who represent the Howick Pakuranga area, let the rest of the competition catch up with them with a lost to Ngarawahia last week while Waiuku were full of confidence with a good win against Papakura. Despite the wind and rain, the two teams had plenty of support as the game kicked off.
Fencibles started stronger as the new defensive partnership of Jerry Hubbard, Sam van Pomeron and Grant Muckle got used to working with each other. However as the game settled down Waiuku took full advantage. First Wayne Trout sent Jesse Smyth Kirk clear and he was called marginally offside as he put the ball in the back of the net. However captain Cody Ralph put Waiuku in front with a near duplicate goal of last week when he curled the ball into the far corner directly from the corner kick. This sparked Fencibles back into life and Willy McClure nearly drew them level with a 35 yard rocket which goalkeeper Justin Baldwin saw late but punched over the bar. Waiuku were next on the scoreboard when a defensive header by Fencibles fell to Trout who smashed the ball into the left hand corner from 25 yards.
Waiuku were upsetting Fencibles rhythm and the pace of the attacking line was causing them problems. Ten minutes after the halftime break, Waiuku went 3-0 up. Danny Baldwin got clear on the left and as the ball came over it fell to Derek Sinclair who curled the ball into the top left hand corner with his left foot. The game was Waiuku's to lose now and so they set back and defended hoping to catch Fencibles on the counter attack. Smyth Kirk went close again with a turn and shot while Trout nearly put his side 4-0 up but his shot went out for a goal kick.
Fencibles with Korean Chan Goo Yan still posed an attacking threat and goalkeeper Baldwin still had plenty to do. There was nothing Baldwin could do when Goo Yan broke clear of the Waiuku defence and slotted it into the goal with six minutes to go. The final score 3-1.
Waiuku coach Jim Evans was proud of his players "We wanted to show the rest of the league that we are no easy beats and what a better way to prove it by beating the top of the table. We gave them plenty of problems pushing forward and it is nice to gage where we are now in terms of this competition. At full strength we are a very hard team to beat. Man of the match today goes to Sinclair but it is getting harder to single players out as we are playing well as a team."
Fencibles coach Eddie Kennedy told the club room "Waiuku are a hard team to beat at home and they know every bump on the pitch. Fencibles man of the match goes to ex Pheonix player Hone Fowler."
Waiuku take a break from league competition with their first Chatham Cup game against Te Awamutu at Massey Park next Saturday.
The Waiuku reserves kept their five match winning streak going with a hard fought win over third placed Mt Albert. First team player Charlie Heather scored two goals while goal scoring machine Luke Sutton got a late goal after Mitchell Thomasen has scored a cracker to open the scoring. Stephen Pepping missed a penalty in the game.
Team: Justin Baldwin, Sam van Pomeron, Jerry Hubbard (vc), Grant Muckle, Wayne Trout (Robert Thornton 65), Joe Rayson, Derek Sinclair, Danny Baldwin, David Johnson, Cody Ralph (c) (Jamie Pegg 75), Jesse Smyth Kirk (Charlie Heather 80)
Subs not used: Phil van den Broek, Vaughan Banfield