South Melbourne FC have wrapped up their stint on home soil with a convincing 5-0 victory over ten-man Solomon Kings FC at The Home of The Matildas.
Having had their fixture rescheduled after rain forced its postponement in Round 1, South Melbourne dominated the contest, capitalising on a second half red card to Solomon Kings FC goalkeeper and captain Phillip Mango.
The win means South Melbourne FC remain the only unbeaten club in the competition after three rounds and eight matches, sitting just one point behind Auckland FC in second on the OFC Pro League table.
Combining the long ball and high press style that has proven effective in the Pro League so far, South Melbourne applied the early pressure, and if not for the gloves of Mango, should have scored three or four goals in the first period.
Jordan Swibel first forced Mango into a fantastic stop after dispossessing David Supa on the edge of his own penalty area, before Thomas Giannakopoulos struck the right post with a close-range header shortly after.
Mango’s skillset was on show again when denying a long-range effort from Max Mikkola with a wonderful one-handed stop, before Swibel had a goal disallowed for offside.
The breakthrough for South Melbourne eventually came in the 33rd minute, Uchida guiding a well-placed header into the bottom-left corner of the net for his third goal in four OFC Pro League matches, and his fifth of the season.
The Kings may have been looking down an even longer barrel at the break though, had Mango not stopped Giannakopoulos from close range, whilst Mikkola hit the right post again, following a melee inside the penalty box.
Ben Cahn brought Rafa Lea’i into the game at half-time, but it took just five second half minutes for Solomon Kings FC to be dealt a hammer blow.
A wicked deflection in the box from a Max Mikkola shot wrongfooted Mango for the second South Melbourne goal in the 50th minute. The Kings goalkeeper and captain was shown a straight red card after VAR review though too, lashing out at Swibel in the build-up to the goal, and reducing his side to ten men.
The third goal followed just after the hour mark, Jordon Lampard scoring his first Pro League goal following a cut-back from Mikkola.
Sinisa Cohadzic took the opportunity to rotate and ring the changes with three points secured, and the fourth goal arrived in the 78th minute, Nahuel Bonada finding the top of the net with a swirling right-footed effort.
Arran Cocks rounded out the scoring with a well-taken right-footed finish in stoppage time.
The two clubs will meet again in just two weeks on the 19th of March during Round 4 in Honiara, where home comforts can’t come soon enough for Solomon Kings FC.
South Melbourne FC: 5 (Yuki UCHIDA 33’, Max MIKKOLA 50’, Jordon LAMPARD 64’, Nahuel BONADA 78′, Arran COCKS 90+3′)
Solomon Kings FC: 0
HT: 1-0
Photo credit: OFC Media via Phototek