Amicale and Ba both confirmed they will be the sides progressing to the semi-finals from Group A with home wins – 2-0 over Hekari United and 5-0 against Solomon Warriors respectively – while the script wasn’t quite as closely followed in Group B. In a double header played at Trusts Arena in Auckland, defending champions Auckland City had their undefeated run rudely interrupted by a Dragon side that emerged 3-1 victors and, although the group’s other match went much more to form, Waitakere United will be disappointed not to have made a better contribution to their goal differential after posting a 3-1 victory over ten-man Mont-Dore.
There are no prizes for guessing which result deserved the headlines though and Dragon coach Ludovic Graugnard was a delighted man after watching his charges score three late goals to earn the come-from-behind victory over Auckland, a historic first ever away triumph for a Tahitian club over a New Zealand opponent.
“We weren’t happy with the way we lost our last game and we came here to get a positive result,” he said. “We analysed Auckland City and I know the way they play. It is a good team with experienced players but we decided to put them under pressure and they don’t like to be pressed.”
City had taken the lead just before the stroke of half-time when Adam Dickinson slotted home from the spot after Tamatoa Wagemann had brought down Manel Exposito in the box. But Dragon – who were without Tahiti national team captain Nicolas Vallar due to suspension – launched their comeback in the 76th minute through Teaonui Tehau and got their noses in front when Auckland skipper Ivan Vicelich turned a Heimano Bourebare cross into his own net on 84 minutes. The cake was then garnished with a generous layer of icing in injury time, Sylvain Graglia capitalising on some indecision in the Auckland defence to dink the ball over goalkeeper Tamati Williams.
“At half-time I told the players not to give up because I really wanted to leave New Zealand with something,” Graugnard said. “We are now able to keep putting pressure on the New Zealand teams and everything is in our hands to qualify.”
Auckland coach Ramon Tribulietx was disappointed to have lost the competition’s only unbeaten record but denied claims the result was a major upset.
“I don’t think it’s much of a surprise actually because Dragon are a very good team,” he said. “I think we played well in the first half and we dominated but maybe in the second half we got too comfortable in being 1-0 up and all of a sudden they started pushing really high. When we don’t have the ball we struggle and that’s what happened in the last 25 minutes. Fair play to them, they were better than us in those last few minutes.”
Despite seeing his side earn a second successive victory, Waitakere coach Paul Marshall was also far from happy and was hoping to make a much larger deposit in the goals-for column, especially after the sending off of Mont-Dore’s Pascal Kenon in the opening minute.
“The sending off spoiled Mont-Dore’s chances of coming away with a victory but we didn’t apply ourselves well enough when they went down to ten men,” he said. “We knew we needed a few goals to get the goal difference a little better and we didn’t manage to do that. But we did manage to do the most important thing and that was to secure the three points. We’ve got those now and know what we have to do.”
Kenon’s early dismissal led to a penalty, which English import Chris Palmer dispatched for his first goal in a Waitakere shirt, but it wasn’t until the 49th minute that Waitakere made further use of their numerical advantage. Fijian international Roy Krishna stroked an effort home from the middle of the box and he was on the scoresheet again six minutes later to make it three. Mont-Dore – still looking to register their first point of the campaign – earned a consolation goal through Jackyno Maou in the 75th minute.
“It would have been interesting to see what happened if we hadn’t been reduced to ten men,” Mont-Dore coach Stephane Drahusak said. “We are very proud of the players as we did not just have to play with ten men for a few minutes – it was for the whole match. Despite the loss, this was a good game for us in terms of our spirit, especially compared to last Saturday. We knew Waitakere expected to get six points from us and we wanted to show them it wouldn’t be easy.”
Having no problems earning points or scoring goals at the moment are Ba, whose 5-0 win over Solomon Warriors at Govind Park keeps them at the top of Group A on goal difference. Malakai Tiwa gave the Men in Black an early lead in just the second minute but it wasn’t until after the break that Yogendra Dutt’s side really got their eye in, Sanni Issa scoring in the 47th, 63rd and 75th minutes to claim a hat-trick before Laisenia Naioko completed the rout with four minutes remaining.
“We were totally outplayed by Ba, their players were big, strong and physical,” Warriors coach Brendan Crichton said. “All the best to them in the competition. Our aim now is definitely to come and play again in the Champions League next year.”
Amicale did not manage to find the net with as much regularity at Port Vila Stadium against Hekari but a 38th-minute Joses Nawo effort and a header from Fenedy Masauvakalo – now starting to produce the form he displayed in Amicale’s final-making season of 2011 – in the 76th proved enough anyway.
“I can only thank the players for a great win today,” Amicale coach Richard Iwai said. “Joses came back from suspension and played well, I thought he scored a great goal. We know we are in the semi-finals now but our aim is to play smart and try to top the group.”
The loss means 2010 champions Hekari must now give up their dreams of earning another title and coach Jerry Allen admitted that prospect was difficult to come to terms with.
“I am very disappointed today because it is finished for us now,” he said. “Again, we have played well but if you can’t score then all that hard work comes to nothing. We will now be playing for pride in the rest of the tournament.”
The OFC Champions League continues on Saturday 20 April in Group A with Solomon Warriors welcoming Hekari and Ba travelling to Amicale for a top-of-the-table clash. The Group B matches are both derbies of sorts with Auckland hosting Waitakere on Sunday in a fixture of huge significance and Mont-Dore facing a tough-looking trip to Dragon for the latest francophone battle on Tuesday.
Match Summary Ba vs Solomon Warriors click here
Match Summary Amicale vs Hekari United click here
Match Summary Auckland City vs Dragon click here
Match Summary Waitakere United vs Mont-Dore click here
Competition Summary Match Day 4 click here

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