Papatoetoe have extended their lead in the NRF Men’s Championship to six points with a 5-1 win against lowly Uni-Mount Bohemians.
The gap was enhanced by the postponement of nearest rival Central United’s game against South Auckland Rangers.
And while Central have two games in hand on Papatoetoe, the league leaders’ latest win exerts pressure on all their rivals who can ill afford to drop points.
Papatoetoe and Uni-Mount shared the first-half honours at Bill McKinlay Park, in which Iwa Shaker gave Papatoetoe the lead after 37 minutes, only for the home side to level through Erol Arslan just before the break.
Ash Gower-Rudman put Papatoetoe 2-1 up within a minute of the restart.
In the 53rd minute, an own goal by David McComb extended Papatoetoe’s lead to 3-1 and then Shaker added his second goal of the day on the hour.
Christopher Groen capped the win with Papatoetoe’s fifth goal in the 84th minute.
Main photo: Iwa Shaker … left Manurewa to join Papatoetoe this season, and scored twice in his side’s latest win. Photo: Shane Wenzlick / Phototek.
Meanwhile, Te Atatu moved into third place with a 2-0 win at Lynn-Avon United.
Te Atatu took a 1-0 lead into half-time at Ken Maunder Park, thanks to a Rhys Caples penalty.
The second half looked like being goalless until three minutes into stoppage time when Darrell Hannah made sure of Te Atatu’s win with his side’s second goal.
Results
Game played Friday August 5, 2022
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Ranui Swanson 1 (Mohammed Haj 90′)
Papakura City 2 (Cory Martin 19′ pen, Cooper Hart 88′)
Games played Saturday August 6, 2022
Uni-Mount Bohemian 1 (Erol Arslan 42′)
Papatoetoe 5 (Iwa Shaker 37′, 61′, Ash Gower-Rudman 46′, Own goal 53′, Christopher Groen 84′)
Lynn-Avon United 0
Te Atatu 2 (Rhys Caples 39′ pen, Darrell Hannah 90+3′)
Central United P
South Auckland Rangers P
Standings
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