And Fijian striker Roy Krishna scored a crucial goal to assist his side in their sixth straight victory. #The defending champs struck early in both halves to put the pressure on the hosts and while Waikato equalised and had an impressive spell in the first half, the visitors were deserving of their sixth win on the trot to increase their lead at the top of the table.#Waitakere’s pace, through the likes of Sean Lovemore, Roy Krishna and Dakota Lucas, always had the home side wary, although Willy Gerdsen’s men would have been disappointed with the manner of each goal conceded.#Lovemore, who has appeared in the Wellington Phoenix A side this season, put Waitakere ahead after four minutes when Waikato lost the ball in their own third and coach Neil Emblen later said that was something his side was intent on doing.#”We spoke a lot this week about allowing Waikato to play and then try to pounce on mistakes and put them under pressure high up the pitch and that’s how it worked,” Emblen said.#”Young Dakota Lucas and Roy Krishna were pressurising their back boys and we managed to nick the ball and Sean got through and scored so it was a real good start for us.”#Waikato recovered well however and found their slick passing game coming together yet ironically got their equaliser from a set-piece, when Nathan Strom’s long throw was flicked on for Milos Nikolic to head home.#However, their joy was shortlived and Waitakere went forward from the kickoff and Krishna’s shot took a wicked deflection to leave John Fletcher with no chance.#”The second goal for us was a lucky goal – it took a big deflection – and that was at the time that Waikato had got back to 1-1,” Emblen said.#”They’ve got something to build on, they’ve scored against us, it makes them more confident, but with us scoring again instantly it put them again on the back foot.#The visitors took a frim grip on the match just two minutes into the second spell when Krishna was given two much room to wriggle free to the byline down the right and his cross found Allan Pearce, who headed in at the back stick.#”I thought in that second half, when we got a two-goal cushion, we’re a real hard side to play against when we’re two goals ahead as everyone seems to relax more,” Emblen said.#”We’re a team that’s expected to win every week but when we get a two-goal lead we’re quite dangerous on the counter-attack.#”We’re lucky, we’ve got some good young players up in the region and they all want to play. It’s difficult to play them all but we’ve shown today, we’ve been tested with the squad’s resources but they’ve all come through that test and made it even more difficult for who plays next week.”#Lucas, Lovemore, Krishna and fullbacks Ashton Pett and Aaron Scott stood out for the winners, while Jason Hicks was again at the hub of most of the home side’s attacking raids, Maksim Manko was dangerous going forwards and Nick Branch and Jack Beguely worked hard at the back. #Source: nzfc
