A Roy Krishna double strike was the toast of Lautoka tonight as Fiji earned a 2-0 win over a ten-man New Zealand side in the final match of the 2010 FIFA World Cup – South Africa – Oceanian qualifiers at Churchill Park.

While the result was insignificant in qualification terms – New Zealand had already qualified for the World Cup Playoff with the fifth best Asian qualifier – the significance of the victory was not lost on Fiji who celebrated their first victory over New Zealand in 24 years.

The opening half was dominated by Kiwi possession and half chances – Stephen Old and Greg Draper both rattled the post in the opening thirty minutes, while Leo Bertos sent a 35 yard rocket free kick just wide of the upright.

The All Whites backline was rarely threatened except by the pace of Krishna who forced goalkeeper Glen Moss into his only save of the half firing a ball low at the near post after a quick break.

Kiwi Coach Ricki Herbert was pleased with the way his young side had played through the first half, though frustrated that they had nothing to show for their long spells of possession.

Goalkeeper Glen Moss made things harder for the Kiwis in the 59th minute when he was shown a straight red card by referee Lencie Fred for dissent, after appearing to complain about a challenge Osea Vakatalesau made on James Pritchett.

Four minutes later Krishna brought the local crowd of 3,000 to their feet by tormenting the New Zealand defence with his pace before lacing the ball hard and low to debutant keeper Jacob Spoonley’s right hand side. With the first touch of Spoonley’s international career he was made to pick the ball out of his net.

New Zealand went in search of the equaliser sacrificing a defender to push more numbers forward and Krishna made them pay again in the 90th minute after collecting a cross from Jone Vono, before taking a deft touch around Steven Old and placing the ball past Spoonley.

Fijian Coach Carlos Buzzetti said the result was very important for Fijian football.

“It was very important for Fiji to finish the year on a good note,” he said.

“We have a very young squad, today we had a 19 year old playing right back and three players in the team who are under 20 who now play full time in the senior squad.

“The future is very bright and people just need to believe that they can do it and hopefully tonight went some way to proving they can.”

Buzzetti said he was extremely happy to defeat New Zealand and was delighted to secure the first win over their rivals since 1984.

“We scored two very good goals today, the second one was pure class and I was really happy with our finishing, but also our defending.

He said star goal scoring striker Krishna is destined to do big things.

“Krishna is one of the finest strikers in the region, he is sharp, cool, calm, explosive and knows how to finish. He’s very highly recognised here and is beginning to be more recognised everywhere.”

Herbert was keen to continue looking forward with New Zealand’s next international – likely to be next March – marking the start of the All Whites preparations for June’s Confederations Cup and November’s World Cup playoff.

“At the end of the day no-one likes to lose internationals,” Herbert said.

“We needed two away games in Fiji like a hole in the head. There was no budget for this game, but we knew that. We’ve ticked it off and now we focus on building a programme for next year beginning in the FIFA window on March 28.”

“Ideally we’ll look to the Middle East or to Asia as that’s what we’ll face later in November.”

“We go away now looking to create a World Cup qualifying campaign New Zealanders can be proud of.”

2008 OFC Nations Cup/2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa

Oceanian Qualifiers

Churchill Park

Lautoka

Fiji

Attendance: 3000

Kick-off: 18h00 FT/19h00 NZT

FIJ (0) 2  (11. Roy KRISHNA 63’, 90’)

NZL (0) 0

NZL: 1. Glen MOSS (GK); 2. David MULLIGAN; 4. Jeremy CHRISTIE; 5. Ben SIGMUND; 6. Steven Old; 7. Leo BERTOS; 8. Cole PEVERLEY; 9. Jeremy BROCKIE; 10. Greg DRAPER (18.Jacob SPOONLEY (GK) 59′); 14. James PRITCHETT; 15. Costa BARBAROUSES (12. Kris BRIGHT 68′);

Substitutes not used: 3. Aaron SCOTT; 11. Allan PEARCE; 13. Jeff CAMPBELL;

Coach:  Ricki HERBERT (NZL)

Yellow cards: None

Red cards: 1. Glen MOSS 59′.

FIJ:  1. Simione TAMANISAU; 2 Esaba NAQELECA;  4. Lesubu LAMAILEPANONI; 5. Alvin SINGH ; 6. Laitia TUIAU ; 7. Pita SENIBIAUKULA; 10. Osea VAKATALESAU (8. Tuimasi MANUCA 77’);  11. Roy KRISHNA; 15. Salesh KUMAR; 16. Malakai TIWA;17. Malakai KEINAHEWE (13. Jone VONO 46′)

Substitutes not used: 20. Benaminio MATEINAQUARA (rgk); 3. Malakai WAQA; 9 . Josaia BUKALIDI; 12. Maciu DUNADAMU; 14. Niumaia TAGI;

Yellow cards: 15. Salesh KUMAR 40′;

Red cards: None

Coach:  Juan Carlos BUZZETTI (Aus)

Referee:  Lencie FRED (VAN)

Assistant Referee 1: Mahit CHILIA (VAN)

Assistant Referee 2: Michael JOSEPH (VAN)

4th official: Job Ponis MINAN (PNG)

2008 OFC Nations Cup/2010 FIFA World Cup™ – South Africa Oceanian Qualifiers

Final Standings:

  P W D L GF GA GD PTS
New Zealand* 6 5 0 1 14 5 9 15
New Caledonia 6 2 2 2 12 10 2 8
Fiji 6 2 1 3 8 11 -3 7
Vanuatu 6 1 1 4 5 14 -9 4

*New Zealand qualify for the FIFA Confederations Cup South Africa 2009 and a playoff against the 5th placed team from the Asian World Cup regional qualifying for a spot in the FIFA World Cup South Africa 2010.