The New Zealand men's under 20 footballers have bounced back from their opening loss of the World Cup warmup series to beat Panama 2-1 at North Harbour Stadium.
Matthew Ridenton celebrates his goal with his Junior All Whites team-mates Photo: Photosport
The Junior All Whites lost 3-2 to Australia in the Five Nations tournament four days ago, but goals from Alex Rufer and Matt Ridenton guided the hosts past the Central Americans on Thursday.
Rufer scored the game's opening goal in the first minute, while midfielder Matt Ridenton got the second after half-time for the hosts.
Panama got on the board via Luis Pereira's 31st minute equaliser.
The last 10 minutes produced chances at both ends as Andrew Blake and Baker went close to scoring for the hosts. Baker's effort was cleared off the line by a retreating Panama defender after the New Zealand striker had neatly lobbed the ball over Panama goalkeeper Jaime De Gracia.
Moses Dyer heads a ball for the Junior All Whites against Panama Photo: Photosport
Coach Darren Bazeley says his side improved their work with the ball in the second half which provided the platform for getting the final result against a team which didn't concede a goal in their World Cup qualification campaign.
"Panama are a very good team and today we've matched them and beaten them," Bazeley says. "I thought in the first half it was an even game but we didn't really dominate our possession."
"In the second half we got a little bit of confidence and we created some great chances to score and we could have got some more [goals]. Our possession was better in the second half, we were a little bit braver and our build-up play was better."
Bazeley says the win provides more information for his decision on the final squad for the World Cup, with only Sunday's clash against Qatar in Hamilton remaining before the coach names his side for the tournament opener on May 30th against Ukraine.
Qatar also had a victory, beating Australia 4-1.
