The midfielder and the winger were signed to boost the squad of Lae City for the upcoming OFC Champions League. Since their arrival in January, the players missed three chances to play together, but were able to finally help their side win in their latest match.
Gustine and Abdias (with the ball) playing for Lae – PNGFA Media
There were not surprises in weekend of football in the most important football league of Oceania. The ISPS Handa Premiership continues with the same top-four of the last weekend, as Auckland City, Team Wellington, Eastern Suburbs and Waitakere United won their matches in the round. The New Zealand-top tier football continues to show good quality football for the local fans in the entire country, having matches in four different cities in the weekend.
Jack-Henry Sinclair saved the day for Team Wellington – OFC Media
The first match of the weekend – the WelClasico – took place in Porirua Park. The home side, the Phoenix Reserves, had a very improved team as they counted with players from their first team – Wellington Phoenix did not play this weekend in A-League as they were in a bye week.
Team Wellington knew they had a harsh challenge coming and the match really to be as tough as they imagined it would be. None of the sides could score until the 96th minute of play, when a silly handball inside the box allowed the young talented player Jack-Henry Sinclair to score through a penalty kick and keep Team Wellington six points away Auckland City in the ladder.
Martin Bueno scored three for Eastern Suburbs – ESAFC Media
If Team Wellington had to until the last minute to confirm their victory, Eastern Suburbs can not say the same. The current title holders did not need to wait for long as the Uruguyan striker Martín Bueno put them ahead in the 9th minute through a penalty kick against Southern United in Auckland.
Michael Built added another still in the first half to seal a 2-0 advantage in the break. The second half was even better, Bueno scored another two – the striker has already 10 in the season – while Reid Drake and Kelvin Kalua finished the account for the home side with a strong 6-0 win over Southern.
Saïko scored a brace to help Tasman win over Hawke’s Bay – Nelson App
Tasman received Hawke’s Bay United in Saxton Field in a match both teams wanted to recover from their defeats in the past round. The New Caledonian international Jean-Philippe Saïko scored in the first half to give the lead for the Nelson-based side.
In the second half Max Winterton added another for Tasman and the same Saïko scored his second goal in the match to make it 3-0 in favour of the home side. Hawke’s Bay could just reduce the margin in the scoreboard to two, when Ahinga Selemani scored in the final moments of the game.
Tasman is in a good position in the table, sitting just behind Waitakere inside the top-for just one point away. Hawke’s Bay after some impressive victories seemed to lose the balance and now is six points away the same Waitakere in the 4th position in the table.
Tade scored a brace for Auckland City – ACFC Media
Auckland City played at home against Hamilton Wanderers in the Kiwitea Street and surely the idol Emiliano Tade let the fans very happy. The Argentinian is back to where he made a lot of success after years of professional football in South Africa. Tade is the player who most scored goals for Auckland City in their history and he added another two in the weekend in his side victory over Wanderers.
The top goalscorer of the season so far Myer Bevan added another to his tally and finished the scoreline for the Navy Blues. The 3-0 would be perfect for the team coached by Jose Figueira, but a clean sheet could not be kept by Conor Tracey as George Ott scored a consolation goal for the Hamilton-based club.
Auckland continues six points clear in the table, while Hamilton Wanderers is now six points away Waitakere United that is last placed side inside the top-four so far.
Dane Schnell goal gave the win to Waitakere – Mak Shots
Waitakere continues their fine moment with a hard fought win over Canterbury at English Park. The team has now three wins in a row – all of them by one-goal margin.
While Waitakere celebrated a much-needed win, the things are not really going as expected for the team coached by Lee Padmore. Canterbury United sits in the bottom of the table, being the only side to not reach yet the double figures in points – having just nine.
All goals came in the second half: Jacob Richards scored the first for the home side, giving them a relief to imagine the drought would end in this match. Unfurtonately for them, the team-captain Sam Burfoot scored in the 77th minute of play to equalize and the talented Dane Schnell sealed his side win at the 85th with the winner goal.
Waitakere continues in the top-four, just one point away Eastern Suburbs that is currently at 3rd place in the run. Waitakere has still a match to be played against Hamilton Wanderers – all sides have 12 matches played in the season, while both teams played 11 – that was interrupted due bad weather conditions. Click here to see the full standings of the competiton so far.
In the sixth round of the PNG National Soccer League the current national champions Lae City traveled to the country capital city Port Moresby to face FC Bougainville. The yellow side struggled to control the home side, but a late winner helped the team, coached by Peter Gunemba, to secure a very important win away from Sir Ignatius Kilage Stadium.
David Mosim opened the scoreline for Bougainville, taking an early lead for the home side. Lae was desperate to get a win – they were beaten by Vitiaz United in Lae in the previous round, allowing Hekari United to open a 3-point lead in the standings. They knew a defeat could cost them the 2nd place in the table for the same Vitiaz and see Hekari increase their point difference over Lae to six.
The second half saw a very good performance from captain-fantastic Raymond Gunemba. RG7 equalized for Lae and scored another to complete the comeback for his side and give them much more confidence in the clash.
The fantastic free kick from Raymond Gunemba
But only the referee can say when the match is over: five minutes later than his top-class free kick, Gunemba saw his side suffer another goal through the effort of Gwama Taukuro – putting another 2 in the scoreboard to tie the match for Bougainville.
All superheroes have their faithful partners; if Raymond’s brace could not seal the victory of Lae, his Kapuls partner Jacob Sabua appeared in the last moments to give relief and score the third and final goal of the match, to seal a happy-ending in the story of the game.
Sabua and Gunemba; the heros of the day – PNGFA Media
Raymond Gunemba’s brace and the later winner of Jacob Sabua kept Lae City in contention. Vitiaz United would had taken the 2nd place in the table if Lae had been unable to overcome the strong test from Bougainville in Sir John Guise Stadium.
Lae City remains only three points away from Hekari in the standings, but they will need to maintain their good form if they want to defend their position in the table – they have the same amount of points of Vitiaz United – and keep chasing the leaders Hekari. You can see the full results, standings and top scorers of the season so far by clicking here.
Molea Tigi was one of the most important players of Solomon Warriors in the 2019-20 season. He scored 11 goals in 13 matches to help his team to win the league.
The match between Ba and Rewa in the Vodafone U19 Youth League 2019 Final Playoff was interrupted after an assault on the referee by a Rewa player. Ba was winning by 2-0 when the assault happened.
Ba U19 starting eleven against Labasa. Source: Fiji FA Media
Ba, Rewa and Labasa are the three teams that are contesting the Vodafone U19 Youth League 2019 Final Playoff. The 2-0 partial would give the national title to Ba.
According to FBC News, it was confirmed by Fiji FA Competitions Manager, Amitesh Pal that there will be meeting to deliberate on the outcome of this situation. Oceania Football Center repudiate every kind of violence specially at youth level
According to the team’s vice-president Peter Seske, the team has engaged a lawyer to get a restraining court order to stop the National Soccer League and investigate the use of Morobe Wawens registration fees and PNG NSL sponsorship funding this season under national business laws.
PNG Football Association has awarded three points to Star Mountain as Wawens did not show up to face them this weekend. Wawens are currently in the seventh position in the national league and you can check the current standings and the top scorers by clicking here.
Paul O’Reilly is not Southern United’s head coach anymore. After managing the team for almost four years he is coming back to Ireland. According to O’Reilly the reason for leaving the role is a mix of personal and professional reasons.
It was reported that O’Reilly received a job offer from his homeland Ireland and he could not wait until the end of the season to go. His last match as Southern’s head coach was a 6-0 loss against Eastern Suburbs this weekend.
Assistant coach Terry Boylan will manage Southern United until the end of the season.
One of the greatest Ni-Vanuatu footballers of all time, Yatel’s head coach Richard Iwai left his homeland to work in an Australian farm for seven months. Assistant coach Kiki Hinge will manage the team from now on.
Richard Iwai
It is a very common practice in Vanuatu and many players leave the country every single year to work in farms for some monhts as the local football is not professional so the players need to earn money someway.
According to local sources Galaxy fielded suspended players in order to prepare the team for 2020 OFC Champions League so they wanted to use all players in the match. The three points were awarded to Tupuji Imere.
It is not known if Galaxy FC will face any other punishment for it. You can check the current standings and the top scorers of 2020 PVFA Opening Cup by clicking here.
Brazilian defender Erick Joe made his debut for Hekari United in the 4-1 win against Kutubu in Goroka for the sixth matchweek of 2019-20 Papua New Guinea National Soccer League. His countryman Vinicius also travelled to Goroka but he did not play.
Erick Joe (fouth from left to right on top) with Hekari United squad
Hekari kept their unbeaten run as they are leading the league with six wins in six matches. You can check the current league standings and the top scorers by clicking here.
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