Wanderers put it all together

Hamilton Wanderers announced themselves as contender in soccer's Northern Premier League with a impressive 4-1 away win over defending champions Central United on Saturday.

Enterprise Cars Melville United were comprehensively beaten as were Cambridge United while Ngaruawahia United's draw was a largely disappointing one.

Metro Motors Wanderers had been up and down during week one's 3-3 draw with Onehunga Sports and while they showed glimpses of brilliance, they'd been awful at times too.

But coach Mark Cossey said it all came together on Saturday.

"We worked on all our problems from last week. We wanted it more, our passing was crisp and we played well," Cossey said.

Reece Edmonds, who moved to Porritt Stadium from Tauranga, scored twice for Wanderers.

He'd been set up by Stu Watene for the first and cracked a fine shot in in the 38th minute to double the lead.

But Central bounced back 10 minutes into the second half and from there, Cossey's side "were under the cosh big time," he said.

That was until Marco Rojas, who Cossey said had "taken the mickey out of them all day" with his play, chipped the keeper to seal the points.

Sam Wilkinson scored in the dying minutes for the second week in a row.

Melville United were surprisingly beaten 5-2 by Bay Olympic after leading 2-1 at halftime through a brace by converted striker Che Bunce.

The former All Whites centre back netted twice but it was Melville's defensive frailties that hurt them. "In the first half it was one-way traffic and Buncey could have had four," coach Steve Williams said.

"We should have killed the game off but they got a flukey equaliser with a cross from the byline that sneaked in at the far post and then a goalkeeping error put them ahead. From there on they had the momentum and we were chasing the game and they took advantage."

Ngaruawahia gained a point in their 1-1 away draw against Waiuku in Division One that frustrated coach Dave Edmondson.

"It's not really the result we were looking for but they're a difficult team to beat at home," Edmondson said. "They play on a tiny, horrible field and put 10 men behind the ball and look to hit on the counter-attack and are hard to break down."

Jordan Shaw put the visitors ahead midway through the first half from a free-kick but Waiuku equalised 10 minutes later and Ngaruawahia couldn't find a winner despite dominating most of the second spell.

Cambridge United had their second loss in a row, going down 2-0 away to Western Springs.

Today Melville were set to play Central United in today's fourth round while Wanderers had a second away game of the Easter weekend, against Eastern Suburbs.

Cambridge were to host Onehunga-Mangere United with Ngaruawahia hosting a Three Kings team with Waikato FC quartet of Joel Mathews, Nik Keown-Robson, Daniel Finlay and Stu Hogg in their ranks, at Centennial Park.

- © Fairfax NZ News