Soccer: Kiwi sides make emphatic starts to O-League

Waitakare smashed 10 goals past 10 men against AS Tefana at Fred Taylor Park in Auckland. Photo / Getty Images

Waitakare United and Auckland City kicked off their O-League campaigns in convincing fashion yesterday (Saturday), and it's hard to say which win was more impressive.

Waitakare smashed 10 goals past 10 men against AS Tefana at Fred Taylor Park in Auckland while Auckland City made light work of a tricky trip to the Solomon Islands, beating Koloale 4-1.

Tahitian champions Tefana faced a hiding to nothing from the moment their goalkeeper was dismissed in the seventh minute. Waitakare showed no mercy, with the final scoreline of 10-0 setting a new mark in the competition.

Fijian striker Roy Krishna led the way with five goals, Ryan De Vries scored a hat-trick and Allan Pearce chipped in with a brace.

Waitakare coach Neil Emblem said he was expecting a tough contest after being beaten by Tefana in Tahiti last year but acknowledged his side were helped by the early sending off.

"In the O-League, when things happen like that for you, you have to capitalise on them and I thought we did that well," he said. "We took probably a good two thirds of our chances, which is pleasing."

Tefana had the best of the opening exchanges before the red card effectively killed off the contest. The pacey Krishna was put through by Waitakare captain Jake Butler, before advancing into the box and attempting to round Tefana keeper Xavier Samin.

The Tahitian international brought down Krishna, giving the referee no choice but to give Samin his marching orders.

Allan Pearce buried the resulting penalty past substitute keeper Leonce Roometua to give the home side a lead they never looked like relinquishing.

Krishna said the dismissal made the Tahitians' task almost impossible.

"But last man standing, and he fouled me, so fair enough. Against 10 men for 80 minutes, we had a lot of chances. It was good to score five goals," Krishna said. "I haven't scored five since I've been playing for Waitakare, I've scored hat-tricks but never five."

Emblem singled out the Fijian international for special praise but was delighted with his whole strikeforce.

"Roy looks a different class," he said. "He's some player. Allan [Pearce] and Ryan De Vries, they've all chipped in today and set each other up. At times we've question-marked them-are they trying to do it all themselves?-but today they were just putting each other in, and they looked really good as a three."

The scoreline surpassed the previous largest victory in the O-League, 8-1 wins recorded by New Caledonian side Magenta last year and Auckland City in 2009.

In Honiara, defending champions Auckland were less emphatic than their city rivals, but had to deal with temperatures in the mid-30s and a vocal home crowd of more than 10,000.

Manel Exposito scored an early penalty and increased the lead 10 minutes after half time, before former Waitakare striker Benjamin Totori pegged one back from the spot to set up a nervy climax. All White David Mulligan scored twice in the closing stages to seal the three points.

Koloale assistant coach Jeffery Allen said City set the standard in the competition, but believed his side were unlucky not to take something from the game.

"The match could have gone either way and the scoreline does not reflect how well we played."

For the first time in the competition's history, Waitakare and Auckland have been kept on opposite sides of the draw, setting them up to meet in the final to determine Oceania's representative at the Fifa Club World Cup.