Waimak United have moved a step closer to winning promotion to the Southern League with an incident-laden win against FC Nelson.
Going into the second leg of their home and away play-off series, Waimak trailed 3-2.
In the second leg, played at Nelson’s Guppy Park, Waimak won 4-3 after extra time, forcing a penalty shoot-out.
The tiebreaker was won 4-3 by Waimak, meaning the New World Premiership title holders will meet Southern Premier League winners Wanaka in a two-legged play-off.
The winner of that series will replace FC Twenty 11 who have been relegated after finishing bottom of the 2024 Southern League.
The second leg between FC Nelson and Waimak United was a tense affair, with 10 yellow cards — five apiece — and a red card for Nelson head coach Paul Brydon, sent from the dugout after only 21 minutes.
An own goal, late goals and finally, a set of penalties decided the two-legged tie in Waimak United’s favour.
Both sides went into the play-off series with strong records, having lost only two league games each this year.
FC Nelson qualified for the play-offs after finishing third in the Nelson Pine Premiership behind Rangers, who declined the opportunity to seek promotion, and the reserve team for Nelson Suburbs, a club already in the Southern League.
The series between Wanaka and Waimak United is expected to go ahead on Saturday September 28 and Saturday October 5.
Main photo: The Waimak United squad after their play-off win against FC Nelson. Photo credit: Waimak United.
Results
Southern League promotion play-off
Game played on Saturday September 21, 2024
Second leg
FC Nelson 3 (Phun Lian 38′, Van Roland Hlawnceu 61′, Tjark Hansen 119′)
Waimak United 4 (Kamil Elmohib 2′, own goal 90+3′, Daniel Ribeiro de Abreu 97′, Jesse Ruwhiu 102′)
Game played on Saturday September 14, 2024
First leg
Waimak United 2 (Ben Cameron 1′, Liam Paterson 16′)
FC Nelson 3 (Tjark Hansen 23′ pen, 30′, Phun Lian 70′)
This story was first published on September 22, 2024.
More football stories
