Wellington United have taken a big step towards the W-League title with a hard-fought draw against Wairarapa United.

The 3-3 result on Saturday maintained their five-point buffer over Wairarapa at the top of the standings with six games to go. They have just one more game against Wairarapa, so only a slip up against another team would give Wairarapa hope.

Saturday’s match saw Wellington take an early lead through Sarah Alder, only for Wairarapa to fight back and lead 2-1 at halftime thanks to goals from Kelsi Rutene and Danielle Turton.

A quick-fire brace from Michaela Robertson put Wellington back into the lead 15 minutes into the second half, but Amber Phillips salvaged a point for her side with a goal in the 87th minute. It was the first points Wellington have dropped all season.

Elsewhere, Western Suburbs moved into a clear third with a 2-0 win over Seatoun, while Palmerston North Marist beat Upper Hutt City 5-3.

The Women’s Premier League went largely to script on Sunday with the top three teams all bagging wins.

Leaders Waterside Karori snuck by Petone 1-0, Victoria University bettered Kapiti Coast United 3-0 and Wellington United’s reserves powered past Stop Out 10-0. The round’s other game saw Island Bay United beat Brooklyn Northern United 5-1.

The Ultra Football Central League title race remains tight after wins to Napier City Rovers and Western Suburbs, while Stop Out dropped points at Wairarapa United.

Napier beat Wellington Olympic 2-1 on Sunday after goals from Martin Bueno and Karan Mandair.

Wests looked to be in a spot of bother when Waterside Karori’s Ryan Cain scored from the penalty spot to give them a 1-0 halftime lead, but Wests simply overwhelmed their hosts in the second half, scoring five unanswered goals, including braces to Ihaia Delaney and Eli Just. Team Wellington player Nati Hailemariam also popped up with a goal.

Stop Out were fortunate to leave Masterton with one point, needing a 93rd-minute Luke Grindlay goal to earn a 2-2 draw.

That leaves them trailing Napier by four points. Wests have moved ahead of them to second, three points back.

At the other end of the table, Havelock North Wanderers were unable to capitalise on Karori’s loss, going down 7-0 to Miramar Rangers after Ross Allen scored a hat-trick.
That left them level on nine points with Karori, but 19 goals behind on goal difference.

Wairarapa’s point moved them two clear of that duo, while Lower Hutt City are three clear after their 3-3 draw with Wellington United.

It was business as usual in the Capital Premier division as North Wellington kept up their incredible frontrunning pace, beating Olympic’s reserves 3-1 to move to 34 points with 11 wins and a draw.

Petone remain nine points back after their 5-0 win over Lower Hutt’s reserves.

The game of the round was on Sunday, when Tawa beat Miramar’s reserves 6-5.

Other results saw Wests’ reserves beat Kapiti Coast United 4-1, while Upper Hutt City drew 1-1 with Island Bay United.

Results

W-League

Wairarapa United 3 (Kelsi Rutene 29’, Danielle Turton 32’, Amber Phillips 87’) Wellington United 3 (Michaela Robertson 56’ 58’, Sarah Alder 23’). HT: 2-1

Palmerston North Marist 5 (Torijan Tyne-Lewis 9’ 14’, Jess Mason 62’ 69’, Sarah Gurnick 87’) Upper Hutt City 3 (Sydnie Williams 19’, Kennedy Bryant 24’, Carolyn O’Reilly 45’). HT: 2-3

Western Suburbs 2 (Maya Hahn 20’, Juliana Los 62’) Seatoun 0. HT: 1-0

Standings: Wellington 25, Wairarapa 20, Wests 13, Palmerston North 13, Upper Hutt 10, Seatoun 0

Golden Boot: 11: Jemma Robertson (Wellington); 10: Torijan Lyne-lewis (PNM); 8: Danielle Ohlsson (Wellington); 7: Jess Mason (PNM), Sarah Gregorius (Upper Hutt), Michaela Robertson (Wellington)

Women’s Premier League

Karori 1 (H Gotlieb) Petone 0

Wellington United 10 (K Wilkinson x4, N Olson x3, C Murphy, H McKenzie, Own Goal) Stop Out 0

Island Bay United 5 (E Hollis x2, S Cook, I Reweti-Gould, J Balsille) Brooklyn Northern United 1 (L Wilkinson)

Victoria University 3 (E Kleiman, E Reilly, M Armstrong) Kapiti Coast United 0

Standings: Karori 21, Victoria 18, Wellington 16, Petone 10, Kapiti 9, Island Bay 6, Brooklyn 3, Stop Out 0

Ultra Football Central League

Wellington United 3 (Willem Ebbinge 18, Oliver Whyte 31’, Oskar van Hattum 33’) Lower Hutt City 3 (Sam Johnson 59’ 73’ 81’). HT: 3-0

Miramar Rangers 7 (Ross Allen 13’ 38’ 80’, Quinton Kipara 73’ 90+3’, Jack-Henry Sinclair 35’, Scott Hilliar 49’) Havelock North Wanderers 0. HT:3-0

Western Suburbs 5 (Ihaia Delaney 55’ 61’, Eli Just 63’ 66’, Nati Hailemariam 73’) Waterside Karori 1 (Ryan Cain 28’). HT: 0-1

Wairarapa 2 (Hamish Watson 22’, Brian Kaltak 39’) Stop Out 2 (Luis Corrales 9’, Luke Grindlay 90+3’). HT: 2-1

Napier City Rovers 2 (Martin Bueno 28, Karan Mandair 48’) Wellington Olympic 1 (Gianni Bouzoukis 58’). HT: 1-0

Standings: Napier 30, Wests 27, Stop Out 25, Olympic 18, Wellington 16, Miramar 16, Lower Hutt 12, Wairarapa 11, Karori 9, Havelock North 9

Golden Boot: 15: Martin Bueno (Napier); 11: Sam Johnson (Lower Hutt); 10: Eli Just (Wests); 9: Luis Corrales (Stop Out), Ben Waine (Wellington); 8: Sho Goto (Napier), Calvin Harris (Wellington), Jerram Tuck (Stop Out)

Capital Premier League

North Wellington 3 (Jonty Bilderbeck 19’, Chas Lawrence 27’, Callum Goodwin 72’) Wellington Olympic 1 (Ignacio Juan Junca 52’). HT: 2-0

Western Suburbs 4 (Ryan Feutz 6’ 17’, Robert Sabo 39’, Cameron MacKenzie 58’) Kapiti Coast United 1 (Peter Moger 53’). HT: 3-1

Upper Hutt City 1 (Matt Fong 28’) Island Bay United 1 (Christopher Rush 67’). HT: 1-0

Petone 5 (Alex Shepherd-Reynolds 38’ 66’, Michael Pickering 58’, Ta Eh Doe 80’, James Nash 86’) Lower Hutt City 0. HT: 1-0

Tawa 6 (Liam Kerr 8’, Dillon Lewis 47’, Mike Ramaekers 56’, Aaron Magill 65’, Soh Reh La 72’, own goal) Miramar Rangers 5 (Dom Rowe 22’ 71’, Matt Chadwick 30’ 67’, Ben Lack 81’). HT: 2-2

Standings: North Wellington 34, Petone 25, Upper Hutt 19, Wests 16, Miramar 15, Island Bay 14, Tawa 14, Kapiti 13, Lower Hutt 11, Olympic 10

Golden Boot: 17: Maksym Kowal (North Wellington); 13: Jesse Randall (Island Bay); 11:

Matt Fong (Upper Hutt); 10: Alex Shepherd-Reynolds (Petone); 9: Dom Rowe (Miramar), Mike Ramaekers (Tawa)

Article added: Monday 18 June 2018