This weekend one of the most traditional football clubs from New Zealand celebrated a very important at ISPS Handa Premiership, New Zealand’s top-tier of football; the Hamilton Wanderers coached by Kale Herbert, son of the legend Ricki Herbert, played at Porrit Stadium against Auckland City, the eight-time champions of the national league.
Since the introduction of the Hamilton-based team in the national league in 2016, they never won Auckland City – this time the history was made thanks to a brace of the current MVP of the ISPS Handa Premiership Derek Tieku, Hamilton collected very important three points in the run and also created history for them and their city.
After a Joe Harris’ well-taken free-kick hit the crossbar, the striker was there to put the ball in the back of the net with header past the goalkeeper Cameron Brown. Still in the first 45 minutes, a brilliant solo effort by Mark Jones allowed Tieku to score again in the middle of the box to double the lead of the home side.
Auckland missed a lot the likes of Emiliado Tade and Logan Rogerson and was unable to create much trouble to the well organised Wanderers’ defense in the second half. With the points collected from this clash, Wanderers are currently at the top of the table of ISPS Handa Premiership.
Also on the weekend Waitakere United allowed Wellington Phoenix Reservers to comeback at Seddon Fields giving to the WeeNix their first three points of the season – the final result was 4-1 with a brace of Benjamin Old. Team Wellington bounced back of an early scare of Hawke’s Bay United at David Farrington Park and confirmed their second win thanks to goal of the Portuguese João Moreira – 2-1 for Team Wellington. To complete the round, Eastern Suburbs beaten Canterbury Dragons by 3-1 in Auckland. You can see the top-goalscorers, updated table and latest results of the competition by visiting our sessions of the ISPS Handa Premiership.
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