Hienghène Sport just needed one more win to seal the Mobil Super Ligue – the top tier of football in New Caledonia – title. The current OFC Champions League winners faced Tiga Sport in the Stade Numa Daly. Despite having lots of good goalscoring opportunities, the team from the north of New Caledonia could not score the decisive goal to give them the title.
Playing without their central midfielder Cédric Sansot that was sent off against AS Magenta in the previous matchweek, Hienghène suffered to create opportunities to score in the first half, but in the final part of the game many chances were wasted: the New Caledonian international Joseph Athalé had a fantastic chance but could not find the target in the injury time of the second half.
With their 0-0 draw against Tiga, AS Magenta could keep in the run of the league title. Hienghène was looking to complete the treble after the continental glory and winning the Coupe de Calédonie, despite not guarenteeing the Mobil Super Ligue title in their match against Tiga Sports, Hyehen still just need a win against Horizon Patho away from home to confirm their new trophy in the next round.
AS Magenta needed a win against AS Wetr in their match to keep in the contention: the goals of Shene Wélépane and Leon Wahnawe gave Magenta a 2-0 lead. The game seemed very calm for the title holders of Mobil Super Ligue, but in the final minutes Eugene Sakilia scored for Wetr to give them a hope to equalize the match – what if happened would give the title Magenta rivals Hienghène Sport. Despite the final pressure of Wetr, Magenta could manage to hold their narrow lead and end the game with the 2-1 win.
Magenta plays in the next round away from home against Trio Keidegne – the club from Nouméa needs to win their match and hope that Hienghène Sport does not earn all points against Horizon Patho in the other game.
Both sides have battled the whole season – Magenta just won one of the four matches played against Hienghène and the club-based in Hienghène won the rest three of the encounters. The title of Mobil Super Ligue would be a great ending of the season for Magenta that failled at Coupe de Calédonie and OFC Champions League, while for Hienghène it would sound as a big frustration to finish second for a league they topped the whole season.
In the other three matches of the round, Trio Kedeigne and ES Wacaele suffered dissapointing defeats in their fight against relegation to AS Lössi and SC Ne Drehu, respectively. Ne Drehu took the AS Wetr place in the table and now sits in the 3rd place of the Mobil Super Ligue. AS Mont-Dore could grab an important win for their fans to get the 4th place in the standings after beating Horizon Patho at home by the 4-3 scoreline.
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