South Melbourne FC all-but-confirmed their place in the top four of the OFC Pro League with an impressive victory over Bula FC in Ba.
Sinisa Cohadzic was able to call upon a number of players who missed their defeat to Auckland FC over the weekend, including captain Marco Jankovic and forward Yuki Uchida, giving them a much fresher line-up than their opponents.
Bula were keen to build upon their win at the weekend, knowing that three points would see them leapfrog South Melbourne and into second place.
There were a few hearts in mouths early on, when Scott Wara’s foul on Uchida led to a VAR check for a possible red card, but the review was eventually concluded with just a yellow card the punishment for the centre-back.
It was Uchida who would make the early impact though. The dangerous Japanese forward latching on to a tidy through ball by Max Mikkola, before craftily lifting his effort over Didier Desprez and into the back of the net.
Mikkola added to his assist with a goal of his own less than ten minutes later. Turning away from his marker 25 yards from goal and arrowing a stunning left-footed effort past Desprez, with the ‘keeper rooted to the spot.
Uchida and then Nahuel Bonada went close to adding a third for South Melbourne in the closing stages of the half as they finished the opening 45 minutes strongly.
Stephane Auvray made one change at the break, removing Gabiriele Matanisiga and bringing on Nabil Begg in hopes of turning the tide for his team.
It was the Australian side however who continued to dominate proceedings, though without significantly testing Desprez.
Bula FC eventually worked their way into the half and came close through Adam Supyk – the full-back smashing an effort narrowly wide of Javier Diaz Lopez’s post, having been set-up by Fergus Gillion.
Nabil Begg almost halved the deficit heading into the final ten minutes, gliding away from Jack Painter-Andrews but lifting his effort past both Diaz Lopez and the post, as South Melbourne breathed a sigh of relief.
The heavy rain certainly didn’t help either side, as Bula continued to push for a way back in as the minutes ticked down.
Six minutes of additional time was signalled by the fourth official but South Melbourne never looked in serious danger of surrendering their leader, holding on to strengthen their grip on second place.
