Waitakere United opened their new O-League soccer campaign on the right note with a 3-1 win over Tahiti's AS Tefana 3-1 in Auckland today.
The result follows Auckland City's 3-0 home win over New Caledonian side AS Magenta yesterday.
Tefana briefly threatened an upset when they took a 1-0 lead
after Axel Williams scored from a delightful reverse pass from Rene Atrewe.
But Waitakere's Roy Krishna had other ideas, levelling the scores when he was on the end of a Ryan De Vries ball to smash home a low shot in first-half stoppage time.
The second half was an even affair but the defining moment arrived with 15 minutes remaining when a skirmish erupted between the players following a tackle by Waitakere substitute Mike Gwyther.
Tefana's Tauraa Marmouyet and Waitakere's Martin Bullock were both cautioned for their roles in the incident but Marmouyet left the field because it was his second booking.
It was always going to be hard for 10-man Tefana to hold on and they were unable to do so, with Gwyther getting the final touch to a goal-line scramble in the 81st minute before young substitute Sean Lovemore scored his first O-League goal two minutes later to put the result beyond doubt.
Waitakere player-coach Neil Emblen , who resisted the urge to take the field himself, was fully aware before the match that Tefana would be a tough nut to crack.
The next round of O'League action is on the weekend of November 13-14 when Waitakere play Auckland City.
Results:-
Yesterday
Auckland City FC 3 (Adam McGeorge, David Mulligan, Daniel Koprivcic) AS Magenta (New Caledonia) 0. Halftime: 3-0
Today
Waitakere United 3 (Roy Krishna, Mike Gwyther, Sean Lovemore) AS Tefana (Tahiti) 1 (Axel Williams). Halftime: 1-1.
- NZPA
