Auckland FC completed a clean sweep of New Zealand Derby wins over Wellington Phoenix in season 2024-25 with a thumping 6-1 victory on Saturday, inspired by a Neyder Moreno hat-trick at Go Media Stadium.
Meeting for the third time this season, Auckland romped to a 3-0 lead at half-time, with Moreno scoring twice in five minutes before Logan Rogerson put the hosts out of sight with their third goal before the break.
Four minutes into the second stanza, Wellington teenager Luke Brooke-Smith became the club’s youngest-ever goalscorer with an opportunistic finish that gave the visitors hope but Moreno put Auckland back in control with his hat-trick goal on the hour mark.
With 80 minutes on the clock, Rogerson scored his second goal of the game with a long-distance stunner as the Black Knights extended their lead to four – but the league leaders weren’t done yet. Jesse Randall capped off the phenomenal Auckland performance with his side’s sixth of the game in the final minute of stoppage time.
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Auckland head coach Steve Corica began the season utilising Moreno as an impact player off the bench but the Colombian has quickly become a pivotal starter for the Black Knights. The derby hat-trick brought Moreno to within one goal of Sydney FC’s Joe Lolley who leads the Isuzu UTE A-League’s current Golden Boot race with nine strikes.
Saturday’s derby played out in front of 27,009 fans at Go Media Stadium, the biggest-ever regular season crowd for a club football game in New Zealand, as Auckland extended their lead at the top of the table to eight points.
As the final whistle blew in Auckland, Sky Sports commentator Jason Pine declared New Zealand “blue and black” as the hosts and their record-breaking crowd revelled in the delight of a 6-1 win.
“There can be absolutely no doubt: New Zealand football is blue and black,” Pine said.
“Auckland FC have pulverised Wellington Phoenix today. A third derby win, six goals, in front of a record crowd – and they look towards those in the crowd and ask a simple question: now do you believe us?”
Wellington made a bright start to the New Zealand Derby and earned an early free-kick on the edge of the box when Auckland centre-back Nando Pijnaker clattered into Corban Piper as the Phoenix youngster attempted to drive into the penalty area.
Pijnaker earned a yellow card for his troubles, and up stepped Hideki Ishige to take the resulting free-kick. Ishige bent the ball toward the top-left corner and would have found the back of the net if not for a diving save from Alex Paulsen.
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After an imposing start from the Phoenix, Auckland settled into the Derby and almost found the opening goal when Francis De Vries attempted to beat Phoenix keeper Alby Kelly-Heald directly from a corner; his left-footed delivery crashed off Kelly-Heald’s gloves and the crossbar as the Phoenix survived the early scare.
Soon after Max Mata had the ball in the back of the net for Auckland but the home crowd’s celebrations were thwarted by the referee’s whistle. It was adjudged Mata had pushed Tim Payne to ground before dispatching his header on goal.
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But the disallowed goal proved only to be a warning to the Phoenix of what was to come, as the Black Knights scored three goals in nine minutes to surge to a 3-0 lead before half-time.
Moreno opened the scoring just after the half-hour mark after another De Vries free-kick angled toward Alby Kelly-Heald on the goal line; the Phoenix keeper swatted the ball away but couldn’t clear the danger as Moreno attacked the loose ball in the box to fire the hosts into the lead.
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Five minutes later, Moreno doubled his tally with a similar strike on the half-volley, buried past Kelly-Heald into the back of the net.
Barely settled back into their seats after celebrating Moreno’s quickfire brace, the home fans were quickly back on their feet when Rogerson put Auckland into a three-goal lead with a close-range header in front of The Port.
There was a lengthy delay as the officiating team assessed whether Rogerson had strayed offside before receiving Felipe Gallegos’ cross off the left wing but the lines drawn by the VAR concluded Phoenix full-back Lukas Kelly-Heald had kept Rogerson onside.
Phoenix coach Italiano swung the changes at half-time, bringing Brooke-Smith, Nathan Walker and Alex Rufer off his bench in place of Lukas Kelly-Heald, Fin Roa Conchie and Hideki Ishige – and the change in personnel helped the visitors get back into the contest.
Four minutes after the restart, Wellington made it 3-1 when 16-year-old Brooke-Smith found himself in the right place at the right time to become the club’s youngest-ever Isuzu UTE A-League goalscorer.
At 16 years and 261 days, the highly-rated Phoenix forward jumped ahead of a host of club favourites on Wellington’s list of all-time youngest scorers:
Wellington Phoenix – youngest-ever Isuzu UTE A-League goalscorers
- Luke Brooke Smith (16 years, 261 days)
- Ben Waine: 18 years, 145 days
- Liberato Cacace: 18 years, 163 days
- Kosta Barbarouses: 18 years, 334 days
- Sarpreet Singh: 18 years, 362 days
But although Brooke-Smith’s goal gave his side hope of a derby comeback, that hope was vanquished when a defensive mistake from the teenager opened the door for Moreno to bag his hat-trick and put the game to bed.
The teenager’s attempted cross-field pass deep in his defensive third was picked off by Moreno, who took one touch to control before burying his third goal of the game into the bottom-left corner.
Having restored their three-goal buffer through Moreno’s hat-trick goal, Auckland’s afternoon at Go Media Stadium got even better when Rogerson hammered home his second goal of the game from distance before Randall added a sixth goal to the scoreboard as the majority of the 27,009 fans in the house revelled in the party atmosphere generated by the home side’s incredible 6-1 victory.
