Dunedin Technical took advantage of Caversham drawing 1-1 in Queenstown, and moved to the top of the Footballsouth Premier League with a resounding 7-0 win over Northern on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Roslyn-Wakari kept hope alive of a higher finish by beating Green Island 3-2 to move into third place on 16 points, behind Technical (24) and Caversham (22).
At the Caledonian Ground, Technical crushed Northern and radically improved its goal difference.
Technical scorers were the in-form Alistair Rickerby (two), Victor da Costa (two) Mike Flaws, Brad Rodden and an own goal.
But if it was one-way traffic at the Caledonian, the match at Sunnyvale was an epic, cliffhanger 3-2 win to Roslyn. Malcolm Fleming's younger side posed serious threats for most of the entertaining game.
The rain-drenched pitch hardly slowed Island's swift attack, which sliced through Roslyn's backline many times, and only a top match by experienced keeper Peter Evans - voted man of the match - preserved the result.
Roslyn was not helped by experienced fullback Tom Connor pulling up lame in the warm-up.
In attack, Green Island played some of its best football this season, when Jack Kirkwood opened the scoring after 28 minutes, and initiated a green wave that might have scored another couple.
Roslyn keeper Evans had a couple dramatic fumbles in the wet, but also showed vintage form with several athletic reflex saves.
Both sides hit the crossbar, Damo Foster for Roslyn and Kirkwood for the Island.
Roslyn equalised early in the second half, when Mike Sannum made a beautifully balanced run in from the left, then drilled a strong shot past Island keeper Nick Grant.
But Roslyn's cheers were silenced only minutes later, when Joel Stevens flew diagonally past tackles and regained the 2-1 lead with a superb shot that gave the keeper no chance.
In the predictable midfield battle, Cody Robinson and Dan Rutter toughed it out with Roslyn's Sam Mepham and Aajay Cunningham, challenging for aerial knockdowns and loose ball.
Despite a quiet game, James Govan dragged Roslyn back into the match with a booming goal from a poor clearance, then hit a worthy match-winner as referee Hamish Phillip reached for his fulltime whistle.
Roslyn coach Colin Thom phlegmatically said: "We got the points, but we've played better."
Green Island coach Fleming praised his side's attack, "but too often we did not pick up runners as Roslyn attacked".
At Ocean Grove, Mosgiel beat Grants Braes 2-1 in a match that required two sendings off by referee Allan Martin.
In Queenstown, Anton Ross opened the scoring for Caversham, midway through the first half.
The response from Queenstown was swift and strong, just a few minutes later, when Ian Lowe showed his class by getting round his marker on the left, and cutting the ball back to the penalty spot, for Ramsi Toumi to score in the top right corner.
Caversham coach Richard Murray said his team "punished ourselves by not taking our chances".
In Christchurch, Roslyn-Wakari was beaten 3-0 in the national women's knockout quarterfinal by a very good Coastal Spirit side, which was a finalist in the competition last year.
Playing under lights at the new ASB Football Stadium, which has Astroturf, was a new experience for Roslyn's women.
Roslyn spokesman Markus Glover praised the new stadium and its turf.
"Pity we do not have something similar in Dunedin. The girls enjoyed playing on it, and did very well against one of New Zealand's top sides."
Among many good performances, Sarah Stannard got Roslyn's player of the day award.
