Southern United sitting pretty after 3-0 win

Southern United’s Toni Power controls the ball in front of Waterside Karori’s Nikki Furukawa during a National League match at Logan Park, Dunedin, on Saturday. PHOTO: LINDA ROBERTSON

Southern United have set themselves up nicely for the tail end of the season.

They beat Waterside Karori 3-0 at Logan Park turf on Saturday, pushing for a top two spot in the National League with two rounds left of the regular season.

Southern United were the better side from the outset, with Amy Hislop scoring an early goal before being deemed offside.

Abby Rankin also had a useful attempt, sending the ball flying from out wide on the right to skim the top of the crossbar.

You could sense that opening goal was not far away and it came in the 15th minute.

Southern United stole the ball as Waterside Karori tried to get out of their own half.

Hislop placed a lovely ball to Kendrah Smith at the top of the box, and she sent it soaring into the back of the net to give the home side a 1-0 lead.

That score remained at halftime and Southern United came out determined to break through again.

Smith put a nice ball through to Margi Dias, who charged after it.

Her attempt missed, but she headed it through to Hislop, who also had a shot but was penalised.

Waterside Karori struggled to get out of their half. Their passes did not stick cleanly, and their players were pressed by their Southern United counterparts constantly on their back.

Nicola Ross was penalised for stamping on Smith’s foot right in front of goal.

Smith missed the penalty, and her second bite also went screaming over goal.

Waterside Karori finally found themselves in the right part of the park and former Roslyn-Wakari star Renee Bacon made an ambitious attempt.

It would have been a goal if it had not been for Southern United goal keeper Lauren Patterson — in her first start of the season — getting up high to deflect the ball on to the bar.

Captain Rose Morton then stole the ball from Waterside Karori and it found its way to Hislop, who finished off nicely with a weighted touch, beating two defenders in the 61st minute.

Southern United replacement Maddy McCormick sealed the win.

She jabbed through a lovely ball to score in the 74th minute for her first national league goal.

In the other games, Central Football recorded their first win of the season, beating Ellerslie 1-0, Western Springs overhauled Canterbury United Pride 4-2, Wellington United lost to Eastern Suburbs 3-2 and Phoenix Reserves were humbled 6-1 by Auckland United.