Southern United navigated trying circumstances to claim its first win of the season.
It overcame a delayed travel schedule to beat Hamilton Wanderers 1-0 in the national football premiership at Porritt Stadium yesterday.
After its flight on Saturday was cancelled due to weather, it was forced to travel to Hamilton via Auckland on game day.
However, the side proved good enough to overcome the inconvenience.
Ben Wade had only just come on when he scored off his first touch with a brilliant strike in the 69th minute.
Southern had turned the ball over and Wade found the net to go one up off the counterattack.It was a defining moment, although coach Paul O’Reilly said Southern had been dominant up until that point.
Hamilton goal keeper Matt Oliver had a busy day and pulled off a series of good saves.
Garbhan Coughlan, Danny Ledwith and Omar Guardiola were all denied by Oliver.
Once Southern took the lead, Hamilton took a few risks and created some half-chances, but Southern was able to hang on.
It left O’Reilly "absolutely delighted’’.
"We played the better football, we were dominant in possession it was a really good, accomplished performance for the first 65-70 minutes,’’ he said.
He said the travel had been mentally fatiguing, but the team had responded well.It had been at the airport for close to four hours on Saturday before its flight was cancelled.
That meant it had to return at 7.30am yesterday and fly to Auckland, before taking the two-hour bus ride south.
While the circumstances made it a big win, claiming its first points of the season was especially important for Southern.
"It’s important to get on the board,’’ O’Reilly said.
"We were disappointed after the 1-0 defeat in Canterbury, we had a good performance last week for 45 minutes until the match was abandoned.
"[On Saturday] it looked like we might not be able to get to Hamilton, so we’re delighted to get up here and get three points on the board.
"We can focus on our next game now which is up in Wellington against Team Wellington.’’
In other games Eastern Suburbs scored twice in the opening five minutes to beat Canterbury United 3-1, while Auckland City won 2-1 against Hawke’s Bay United.
Team Wellington beat Tasman United 2-0 and Waitakere United beat the Wellington Phoenix Academy 5-1.
National football premiership
The scores
Southern United 1
Ben Wade 69’
Hamilton Wanderers 0
Halftime: 0-0
