Auckland City FC are on top of the ISPS Handa Premiership table after overcoming Eastern Suburbs AFC 2-0 at William Green Domain tonight in Auckland.

After a confidence building 2-0 win over the Canterbury United Dragons, the Navy Blues delivered a clinical performance to secure all three points and move one point clear of Team Wellington and the Lily Whites.

Emiliano Tade made a welcome return to the six-time champions starting line-up. He missed an early chance but made no mistake in the 20^th minute to take the early lead.  

Tade, the leader on the golden boot standings in the ISPS Handa Premiership, smashed home a wonderful free-kick beyond Louis Caunter in a repeat of his effort against Canterbury United in Christchurch on Sunday.

Danny Hay’s side came back into the match. They enjoyed a period of sustained pressure just after the restart but just when they appeared to be getting on top of the Navy Blues substitute Micah Lea’alafa broke clear to net the second to put the game to bed.

Auckland City Coach Ramon Tribulietx was a happy man after watching his side notch back-to-back wins over two sides in the top four and record his third win over the Eastern Suburbs in the past two seasons.

“It was a game of two halves and very hard on both teams and it was a big effort playing on Sunday and with a short turnaround,” said Tribulietx.

“Our boys were a bit tired second half and our performance was a bit disjointed. The battle was very good and we created good chances to score - one in each half - but that’s football, but overall a great effort from us. It was a more defensive display in the second half and we were very competitive and I'm very happy with that,” he said.

Tribulietx complimented Tade on another fine finish from a free-kick and Lea’alafa’s finish on the counter.

“Their keeper was positioned a little bit centrally and Tade is very smart in those situations and he’s done that before. It was a very good goal.

“For the second we've had the counter attack and they were going for the equaliser and committed a lot of players forward but on the counter we knew we could hurt them. Micah is a great asset for us and he's done well for us,” he said.

"We have a lot of tired players but we have an extra day to recover and we have a very good squad of players. These two games were going to be very tough and now the Wanderers game some have played two lots of 90 minutes. We’ll make sure we’ve got a competitive team out there next Sunday,” he said.

Auckland City FC face their third game in a week when they meet Hamilton Wanderers at Links Avenue in Tauranga in front of the Sky Sport cameras on Sunday, while Eastern Suburbs will travel to Palmerston North to take on Hawke’s Bay United.

ISPS Handa Premiership – Round Seven Fixture
Eastern Suburbs AFC 0 Auckland City FC 2 (Emiliano Tade 20’, Micah Lea’alafa 71’) HT: 0-1