Southern United ticked off a few familiar boxes in its David versus Goliath clash against Auckland City yesterday.
Gutsy effort? Check.
Stunning individual goal from Tom Jackson? Check.
Zero points? Check.
Auckland City, technically ranked third in the world _ if you believe the Auckland media _ after its fantastic performance at the Club World Cup, scored a late goal to blow the score out to 4 2.
It had also scored twice inside the first five minutes, meaning Southern United ''won'' the period of the game from the the fifth to the 87th minutes 2 1.
That will offer some consolation to the young Southern side, but doubtless it would have preferred to leave the big smoke with three valuable points.
It was a fifth straight win for Auckland, which only last week regained the lead in the ASB Premiership. For Southern, it was an eighth loss in its past nine games after the bright start to the season, which included two wins in the first three rounds.
Southern made an appalling start at Kiwitea St when it conceded an own goal after four minutes and, barely a minute later, it trailed 2 0 after a David Browne goal.
An absolute rout seemed on the cards, which would not exactly have been a surprise _ in the five most recent games between the sides before the weekend, Auckland had poured in 22 goals and Southern just two.
Thankfully, Southern recovered well from its disastrous start and settled into a lengthy period of promising play.
It cribbed a goal back when young defender Kieran McIntyre scored in the 29th minute, and went into the break trailing by a goal.
Browne scored his second a couple of minutes after the restart, but Southern again responded with a sizzling Jackson strike to make it 3 2.
Southern sniffed an equaliser and had some good chances _ Jude Fitzpatrick headed wide from a corner, and Jackson just missed with a free kick _ but Auckland had the final say, when Marko Dordevic scored from a corner.
Elsewhere, there was a goalfest at Fred Taylor Park, as fourth placed Waitakere United thumped the Phoenix reserves 6 3. Among the Waitakere scorers was former Southern defender Andy Boyens.
In the third Auckland game, Waikato BOP came from a goal down to beat Wanderers 2 1, while in the capital, second placed Wellington thumped Canterbury United 3 0, Jarrod Smith scoring twice.
ASB Premiership
The scores
Auckland City 4
Own goal 4, David Browne 5, 47, Marko Dordevic 87
Southern United 2
Kieran McIntyre 29, Tom Jackson 62
Halftime: Auckland 2-1.
