Sloppy periods in each half sank Southern United at Peter Johnstone Park on Saturday. Waitakere United walked away a 3-1 victor, snapping Southern’s winning streak at three games.
A 10-minute spell in the first half proved the decisive period. After having the better of the opening exchanges, Southern conceded the first goal in the 23rd minute.
Julyan Collett tore in to finish from close range on a corner, which curled in from the right to the far post.Southern nearly hit back straight away. Ross Howard delivered a dangerous cross to Danny Furlong, which was well saved.
That proved an important save two minutes later as Jake Porter put Waitakere up 2-0. Porter struck a bullet with his left foot from 5m outside the box. He found the back of the net to goalkeeper Liam Little’s right, giving Waitakere its second goal in five minutes.
Southern withstood two chances, then fought back. When it re-emerged after the break it took control of the game. Chances came more regularly and Furlong went close in the 56th minute. However, he was denied, the ball deemed to have not crossed the line as it ricocheted off the inside of the top right corner.
Southern kept the pressure on and eventually Furlong was rewarded. Conor O’Keeffe fired a cross into the box, which Furlong finished with a header to take the score to 2-1.
Momentum was on Southern’s side, but Waitakere rallied. It launched a five-minute barrage on the Southern defence, culminating in a goal on the counterattack to Keegan Linderboom.
At 3-1 with less than 15 minutes left, it was going to be a tough ask. Southern kept plugging away, though, and got close on several occasions. In the end, its finishing touch deserted it, which was perhaps the story of the game.
"We were probably the better team the first 20 minutes, then conceded a sloppy goal at the set piece," Southern coach Paul O’Reilly said.
"[After] a second sloppy one and 2-0 down you’re always battling. We had a good goal in the second half, but probably lacked a bit of quality in important places of the pitch, especially the attacking third. We had a goal disallowed that hit the post.
"We huffed and puffed but we just didn’t have quite enough to get over the line today."
While he was happy with the attitude the team showed as it fought back, he was disappointed with the way it then let the game slip away.
"We got back into the game at 2-1 and we were really disappointed to lose it from there. We just got a little bit ragged. We really should have just concentrated on being tight and we would have had a good push towards the end. It’s the end of a spell of winning games, so we’ll have to regroup and make sure we win the next one."
National Football League
The scores
Waitakere United 3
Julyan Collet 23, Jake Porter 26, Keegan Linderboom 75
Southern United 1
Danny Furlong 71
