Wellington Phoenix vs. Auckland FC
8 November 2025 – Sky Stadium (Attendance: 12.091)
Half Time: 1-2
Full Time: 1-2
⚽️ 1′ Sam Cosgrove (Auckland FC)
⚽️ 9′ Ifeanyi Eze (Wellington Phoenix)
⚽️ 34′ Sam Cosgrove (Auckland FC)
This is the New Zealand Derby, the first of three to be held this season and what a game it was. The first goal game came just 28 seconds after kick-off with Jesse Randall drawing out the keeper before passing to Sam Cosgrove who tapped the ball in. This would make it the quickest A-League goal of the season so far. Not the start Wellington wanted but just 9 minutes later, Ifeanyi Eze equalized with a massive strike from outside the box keeping it just out of reach of Michael Woud into the top left corner. Even as Auckland FC fans, you have to admit it was a cracker of a goal. The second Auckland FC goal came in the 34th minute of the first half with what initially looked like Jesse Randall chipping the ball over the Wellington Keeper but Cosgrove had come in chasing the ball along with a Wellington defender and it appears to have just bounced off Cosgrove‘s knee before it went across the line. He was trying to block the Wellington defender from clearing it but it got touched into the goal at the last moment. Randall almost scored again in the 42nd minute with his shot bouncing off the post.
And that was only the first half, the second half then got pretty crazy and quite stressful for Auckland FC fans. In the 49th minute Dan Hall got a red card for a foul on Corban Piper as they were both near the Auckland FC penalty box. However, play should never have continued allowed to this happen as Corban Piper was used his arm to bring down the ball at the start of the run near halfway. ALSO Dan Hall was not the last man (creating the red card) as Francis De Vries was right near when it happened. So for the rest of the second half Auckland only had 10 players. BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE … In the 79th minute, Logan Rogerson (who had only just been subbed onto the pitch) ALSO got a red card after having his studs up in a tackle. That left Auckland FC with only 9 players for the rest of the match … another 20 minutes as 9 minutes of extra time was added to the end of regulation time.
The fact that Wellington kept piling on the pressure in the past part with loads of stressful corners (interesting fact that I forgot to put in our chart – there were Wellington had 13 corners to our 0 corners)
Despite Auckland FC only having 9 players against 12 (I felt the ref was on Wellington’s side), they came away with the victory. Those last 20 minutes were some of the most stressful we have experienced watching a football match. If it had have been any other match, no worries, but THIS was a New Zealand Derby!
With this victory, Auckland FC maintain their unbeaten streak against Wellington Phoenix having won all 4 derbies. The next NZ derby will be played in Auckland on 6th December.
