Wānaka win as Plimmer scores two on the road
Alex Plimmer came off the bench to score twice and propel Wānaka to a win on the road.
It took them to a 2-1 victory over Universites of Canterbury at English Park, in the men's Southern Football League on Saturday.
Plimmer gave Wānaka a 42nd-minute lead when they played the ball out from their penalty box.
A long ball forward saw Wānaka press the home team — forcing a turnover with Plimmer collecting the loose ball on the edge of the box.
He took one touch and gave keeper Matthew Aitchison no chance.
Wānaka nearly doubled their lead just after the hour mark, when Ed Belingher broke free in his own half and collected Plimmer's return pass with his shot striking the post.
It was 2-0 a couple of minutes later when Ben Sippola showed some tidy footwork to beat six players as he dribbled into the box.
He was finally tackled, but the ball fell kindly to Plimmer, who rifled his shot home from 12 yards out.
UC pulled one back with eight minutes to go through Ashton Lay, but Wānaka held on to claim three points and the double over UC.
It was the only game involving a southern team on Saturday as fog at Dunedin Airport prevented teams from flying to their games. That impacted both the men's and women's Dunedin City Royals teams, as well as the Roslyn Wakari women's team.
Yesterday's women's Southern League game between Otago University and Cashmere Technical was also postponed due to a flight cancellation.
Christchurch United remain in top spot of the men's league, thanks to Travis Graham's injury time goal in the 92nd minute to secure a 1-1 draw with Nomads. Cashmere Tech moved into third spot with a routine 6-0 victory over Selwyn and Ferrymead Bays are fourth thanks to goalkeeper Evan Ovendale's late penalty save after Liam Stanton's 54th minute goal in a close 1-0 win over Nelson Suburbs.
In the men's Southern Premiership, Northern completed the first round with 100% record after a closely-fought 2-1 victory over their nearest challengers University.
Northern's strike force of Rory Hibbert and Toby Orchiston were combining well, as were the students pairing of Ashton Hodson and Simba Muwunganirwa, testing the keepers with some early shots.
The game burst into life in the 42nd minute, and Hodson finished on a diving header a few minutes later to finish past Eli Urwin — his third attempt after Urwin had denied Hodson twice.
However, with time up on the clock a slip in the University defence left space for the ball to be played across the Orchiston.
He tapped in from close range to make it 1-1 at halftime.
The second half was a tight affair, before the game burst into life again late in the half.
Urwin reacted well to deny University the lead in the 86th minute, before Hibbert finished at the other end a minute later, allowing Northern to escape with the win.
Mosgiel moved into second with a 5-2 comeback win over Northern Hearts, while Roslyn Wakari beat Old Boys 4-2 at Ellis Park, also coming from behind.
The Dunedin City Royals were too strong for Green Island in a 4-0 win.
By Neville Watson
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