Tournament favourites Fiji have crashed out of the Oceania Under 17 Soccer Championships being played in Auckland.
Fiji, together with the highly rated Solomon Islands, do not qualify for the final next week after upsets marred their progress.
New Zealand edged out Fiji 1-0 in pool play to remain on course for a place in next week's final but they will need to improve from what they showed against Fiji on Wednesday if they are to go into the tournament decider with real confidence.
Struggling, in the first half in particular, to master the windy conditions and bumpy North Harbour outer oval pitch, the Young All Whites lacked the cohesion and finesse international football demands.
"We didn't exactly deserve to lose," said New Zealand coach Steve Cain. "It is a learning process, but at least we won with a great goal."
New Zealand’s match winner was a 50th-minute Jordan Vale header from a Rhys Jordan right-wing corner. It was the first corner at the southern end of the ground after the Fiji had failed to force one in the opening 45 minutes.
Playing a static four, and with too much ball given away, the home side were often forced to chase back in defence.
The visitors had a couple of good chances in the last 15 minutes, with Vale clearing a likely effort from a Fijian corner and goalkeeper Scott Basalaj tipping a thunderous stoppage time Altaaf Sahib freekick over his goal for a corner.
Cain later admitted some of his players "had not had their best games" but said he was happy to pocket the points, which took them to the top of the table on goal difference from Papua New Guinea who made hard work of it in beating American Samoa 2-1 in the late game.