The ASB Premiership has another Pacific Island star in its midst.
Auckland City's Micah Lea'alafa unveiled himself as the latest in a league which has played host to prolific Pacific Island goal scorers in Benji Totori, Seule Soromon, Henry Fa'arodo and Roy Krishna, scoring twice in a 4-0 win overWaitakere United today.
A Solomon Islands football star, Lea'alafa showed a devastating mix of pace and technical ability down the right-hand wing, following up his two goal outing against Team Wellington in the Charity Cup with another brilliant brace.
Lea'alafa stole the spotlight after a dour first half in which neither side could find the impetus to open up their ground-based passing game on sandy and bobbly QBE Stadium surface.
Waitakere were the team to create the best chances in the first 45, with Jake Butler heading wide after an opportunistic cross from Nikolai Berry, while Aaron Scott's 30 metre volley came cannoning back off the crossbar with Auckland custodian Jacob Spoonley stranded.
While Auckland slowly gained the upper hand when the second half resumed, the game remained deadlocked after 75 minutes, before Joao Moreira opened the scoring via a deflection - a goal which kick-started a dominant Auckland display.
The four late goals were a cruel outcome for Waitakere goalkeeper Simon Williams, who had seemingly used every part of his body to keep Auckland at bay, making several stunning saves before the floodgates opened.
Lea'alafa first goal was the pick of the bunch, firing a rasping shot home from outside the box, past the despairing dive of Williams at the near post. Left winger Ryan De Vries added a third, before the Solomon Island speedster compounded Waitakere's misery with a fourth strike in the last minute of regular time, giving Auckland a record-tying seventh consecutive win over their cross-town rivals.
