Hosts Papua New Guinea were also in winning form as they did away with the Cook Islands in the day’s second match.
Football Ferns captain Abby Erceg could not have asked for a more fitting tribute from her teammates to mark her 100th cap than what they delivered on the pitch. And a brace was the perfect way for debutante Daisy Cleverley to celebrate an auspicious occasion of her own.
Coach Tony Readings was pleased with the opening efforts of his side as they capitalised on the goal scoring opportunities they were presented – just as he as directed them to do.
“We’ve come here to work on a few things and one of them was to take goal scoring opportunities and we’ve done that today,” he says.
“We’re happy, we’ve got the win and there’s always still things we can work on so we’ll be working hard today and tomorrow to get those things better so when we play Papua New Guinea we’re as prepared as we can be.”
Precise, ruthless and determined, the New Zealand side outplayed their Tongan opponents from the opening minute through to the final whistle. And it was 17-yeaer-old Cleverley who opened the scoring with a tidy tap over Tonga goalkeeper Lupe Likiliki.
The rough start only got worse for recent mother Likiliki who, after catching the foot of Sarah Gregorius, conceded a penalty which the diminutive striker proceeded to fire past her. A string of three goals came flying in between the 17th and 20th minutes courtesy of Betsy Hassett, Helen Collins and a second for young Cleverley.
A defensive error from Tonga in the 26th minute saw them punished by Rosie White, before she added a second three minutes later after an impressive build-up from her teammates to take the Kiwis into the break with a 7-0 lead.
A triple substitution from the Football Ferns at half-time brought fresh legs in the form of Amber Hearn, Ria Percival and Annalie Longo, giving Katie Hoyle, Ali Riley and goal scorer Hassett a welcome rest from the heat.
The two substitutes, Percival and Longo, combined perfectly in the 67th minute as the former crossed in for the latter to fire home on the volley. Fellow sub Hearn then put helped Collins to her second of the day with a tidy cross into the six-yard box from the right corner. Gregorius was next to add to the growing tally before Collins earned her third with a bouncing finish over Likiliki. Longo added a second before Hearn put her name on the score sheet as did Percival before the final action was a tidy finish from Hearn to take the Football Ferns to a 16-0 victory.
A tough start to the tournament for Tonga coach Kilifi Uele and his side, in just their second meeting with New Zealand in this competition’s history.
“I think a little bit of disappointment with what we were given, especially our game plan is just a simple thing but they just didn’t do it right and this is the result,” Uele says.
“I think the goalkeeper was our most outstanding player – it’s a big score but she still saved a lot for us.”
The afternoon’s match was another hot affair, with both sides taking a little time to find their feet in their first competitive international in at least two years.
Papua New Guinea started the stronger side with 2014 OFC U-20 Women’s Championship Golden Ball winner Meagen Gunemba doing her best to prove to coach Gary Phillips why she should be a regular starter for the seniors.
Despite having the wealth of opportunities in the first 15 minutes it was Gunemba’s experienced teammate Sandra Birum who finally broke the deadlock after some miscommunication in the Cook Islands defence allowed her to tap the ball in at the far post.
Gunemba soon found her scoring ways after an unfortunate bounce for Cook Islands keeper Imelda Vakai allowed the 19-year-old to see her first senior goal over the line. Ten minutes later and Gunemba was lining up her second as she finally found the net after being denied by the post and goalkeeper in a string of shots.
The Cook Islands seemed to find their feet in the second half as they applied sustained pressure on the hosts back line for the first time in the match. Lee Maoate-Cox was not only solid in defence, but made penetrating runs that required stronger finishing from her teammates.
Despite some decent chances for Cook Islands courtesy of Dayna Napa, Linade Unuka and Mama Henry, it was Papua New Guinea who got the second half scoring started. Gunemba earned a hattrick on debut for the senior side after beating past Vakai to fire into an empty net.
Cook Islands had a good chance when Napa raced past her marker to win the ball and line up a shot but was taken out before she could fire, a challenge which earned Dorcas Sesevo a caution, and the Cook Islands a penalty.
With Napa off receiving treatment to her ankle, the task of converting the spot kick fell to the hard working Maoate-Cox who blasted it past Fidelma Watpore to put her side on the score sheet.
Despite some decent chances in the dying minutes of the match, the visitors couldn’t undo the damage of a slow first half with Papua New Guinea holding on to take a 4-1 win.
Papua New Guinea coach Gary Phillips will take the win but he has few compliments to describe his team’s performance.
“It was very ugly, but I think it’s expected really. The national team has not been together for three years and that was their first game – that’s quite unbelievable,” Phillips states.
“Obviously I’m happy with the three points and there were some good signs but we’re a long way from where we need to be as far as the finished product goes.
“It’s a work in progress and hopefully we just get better with every game.”
As far as immediate improvements go, Phillips says ball turnover is a key area they’ll look at as they review their first performance.
“We just need to keep the ball better essentially, when we turn the ball over we had to chase and it really caused us problems and therefore we got tired. We can’t afford to do that, particularly in these conditions because if we do that against the better teams – like New Zealand – we’re going to be severely punished.”
It wasn’t the result Cook Islands coach Jimmy Katoa needed, or wanted, but he says the second half performance from his side at least gives the coaching staff some heart for the remainder of the competition.
“Not the outcome we wanted but I mean we had a really bad first half performance. We prepared well, no excuses but I think the girls were more concerned about the weather, the heat, than the game,” he says.
“Once everything settled down we started troubling them, especially in that second half and that’s what we wanted to do for the first half too.
“The girls just looked panicked to start with and just didn’t compose themselves under pressure, and it was pressure we put ourselves under. We broke their line a few times but just couldn’t finish and we defended well so there were some positives, but more so in the second half performance.”
The 2014 OFC Women’s Nations Cup continues on Monday 27 October at Kalabond Oval in Kokopo with two matches scheduled for the second day of competition.
Tonga will open Match Day 2 with an encounter against Cook Islands at 11am, while the two victorious sides on Match Day 1, Papua New Guinea and New Zealand, will get underway at 2pm.

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