North Wellington have won the Capital Premier League with four games to spare.

The undefeated competiton leaders moved to 40 points after their 5-1 win over Island Bay United on Saturday. When second-placed Petone lost 3-1 to Western Suburbs' reserves, North Wellington moved to an insurmountable 15 points clear, sealing the Venus Shield and their place in the Central League playoff.

North Wellington have never been in the Central League since the league was reformatted in 2005. The club was last in the top division in 2000.

Winning with four games to spare made them the earliest champions in either of the top two divisons since the 2005 changes.

Golden Boot leader Maksym Kowal bagged a brace in their win to take his season tally to 19, while Martin Packer and Ryan Worrall also found the net to add to an Island Bay own goal.

In other results, Upper Hutt City beat Lower Hutt's reserves 4-2 to sit third, level on points with Petone. Wellington Olympic's reserves leapfrogged Lower Hutt at the bottom of the ladder with a 4-2 win over Miramar Rangers' reserves, while Tawa beat Kapiti Coast United 2-1.

In the Ultra Football Central League, two horse races at both ends of the ladder have started to develop with four games to go.

Leaders Napier City Rovers dispatched of third-placed Stop Out 3-1 at Park Island on Sunday to move eight points clear of them.

Their only realistic challenger now appears to be Wests, who downed Olympic 3-0 on Saturday night to maintain the three-point gap between the sides.

At the other end of the table, Havelock North Wanderers lost 4-2 to Wairarapa United and Waterside Karori went down 2-1 to Wellington United. There are three points separating Karori and Wanderers, but four more points from Karori up to Miramar Rangers, who lost 1-0 to Lower Hutt.

In the W-League, Wellington United moved another step closer to the title with a 7-1 win over Upper Hutt.

Wairarapa United kept the five-point gap intact with a 4-0 win over Western Suburbs.

Seatoun grabbed their second win of the season with a 3-1 triumph over Palmerston North Marist.

The Women's Premier League matches were postponed on Sunday.

Ultra Football Central League

Wellington United 2 (Ben Waine 21' 29') Waterside Karori 1 (Dan Bowkett 76'). HT: 2-0

Lower Hutt City 1 (Sam Johnson 32') Miramar Rangers 0. HT: 1-0

Western Suburbs 3 (Owen Parker-Price 78', Mohamed Awad 89', Nati Hailemariam 90+1') Wellington Olympic 0. HT: 0-0

Wairarapa United 4 (Hamish Watson 28' 67', Azariah Soromon 20', Shakille Belle 35') Havelock North Wanderers 2 (Liam Shackleton 44', Jorge Akers 50'). HT: 3-0

Napier City Rovers 3 (Wesley Cain 46', Bjorn Christensen 72', Jamie Wilkinson 84') Stop Out 1 (Lewis Jackson 81'). HT: 0-0

Standings: Napier 34, Wests 31, Stop Out 26, Olympic 21, Wellington 19, Lower Hutt 18, Wairarapa 17, Miramar 16, Karori 12, Havelock North 9

Golden Boot: 16: Martin Bueno (Napier); 14: Sam Johnson (Lower Hutt); 11: Eli Just (Wests), Ben Waine (Wellington); 10: Luis Corrales (Stop Out)

Capital Premier

Tawa 2 (Soh Reh La 16', Mike Ramaekers 56') Kapiti Coast United 1 (Samuel Kingi 8'). HT: 1-1

North Wellington 5 (Maksym Kowal 4' 70', Martin Packer 10', Ryan Worrall 35', own goal) Island Bay United 1 (Luc Townsend 37'). HT: 4-1

Western Suburbs 3 (Oliver van Rissel 54', Marko Stamenic 68', Ryan Feutz 71') Petone 1 (Alex Shepherd-Reynolds 34'). HT: 0-1

Upper Hutt City 4 (Ben Horton 31' 90+3', Matt Fong 12', Cameron McLachlan 61') Lower Hutt City 2 (Cameron Roberts 45+3', Tinotenda Chiura 75'). HT: 2-1

Wellington Olympic 4 (Daniel Mulholland 13', Ignacio Junca 15', Dimitri Apostolakis 29', Luke Agalawatta 82') Miramar Rangers 1 (Wiremu Patrick 90+3'). HT: 3-0

Standings: North Wellington 40, Petone 25, Upper Hutt 25, Wests 20, Tawa 20, Miramar 18, Island Bay 15, Kapiti 13, Olympic 13, Lower Hutt 11

Golden Boot: 19: Maksym Kowal (North Wellington); 13: Jesse Randall (Island Bay); 12: Dom Rowe (Miramar), Matt Fong (Upper Hutt), Mike Ramaekers (Tawa); 11: Alex Shepherd-Reynolds (Petone)

W-League

Seatoun 3 (Grace Surridge 22' 55', Tallulah Nemet-Sargent 75') Palmerston North Marist 1 (Nicole Robertson 90'). HT: 1-0

Wellington United 7 (Dani Ohlsson 16' 33', Suzanne Giesen 25' 44', Genevieve Berry 40' 52', Emma Rolston 28') Upper Hutt City 1 (Kennedy Bryant 81'). HT: 6-0

Wairarapa United 4 (Kelsi Rutene 42' 74', Meisha Boone 44', Rosie Aitkenhead 90+1') Western Suburbs 0. HT: 2-0

Standings: Wellington 31, Wairarapa 26, Wests 13, Upper Hutt 10, Palmerston North 10, Seatoun 6

Golden Boot: 11: Torijan Lyne-Lewis (PNM), Dani Ohlsson (Wellington), Jemma Robertson (Wellington); 8: Grace Surridge (Seatoun); 7: Jess Mason (PNM), Kennedy Bryant (Upper Hutt), Sarah Gregorius (Upper Hutt), Anna McPhie (Wairarapa), Michaela Robertson (Wellington), Kelsi Rutene (Wairarapa) 

Article added: Monday 09 July 2018