But Saturday's hard-fought victory came at a cost, with starting centre-back and Kiwi international Nando Pijnaker forced off with an ankle injury in the 23rd minute. Auckland 33 points are five points clear of second-placed Adelaide, who lost to Sydney FC on Saturday evening. They have a two-week break before travelling to face third-placed Western United on February 15 and will hope Pijnaker's injury isn't too serious, given Dan Hall is already sidelined.
I know he rolled his ankle. So obviously the transfer window's still open. We'll just see how bad it is first and then we'll decide what we're gonna do from there. Verstraete will miss that match after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season late on Saturday. Mile Sterjovski's fourth-placed Bulls 24 points missed a chance to go third on the table and could drop further. Auckland took the lead in the ninth minute when Hiroki Sakai's long throw-in was headed to the near post by a leaping Max Mata, with Neyder Moreno on hand to bundle home.
In the 18th minute, Auckland received a massive let-off when Moreno was ruled not to have fouled Ikonomidis inside the yard box, when it appeared a stonewall penalty. Skipper Valere Germain made a super run to reach a wonderful dipping Marin Jakolis ball, forcing a save from Alex Paulsen, with Jake Hollman arriving first at the scene to tap home the rebound.
After Verstraete's header cracked the Bulls' defence, Auckland closed out the game in professional fashion. Top spot on the line. For You. The Morning Edition. Saved Articles 0. Reading History. My Topics. My Account. My Membership. Recommend inkl. About inkl. Get all your news in one place. One app. Anna Harrington. But the Bulls scored less than a minute later. Sign up to read this article. Email is required. Email is invalid. Email is already registered.
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