South Melbourne FC have delivered a statement performance on the eve of the Leaders Group with a dominant 8-1 victory over Tahiti United at 4R Electrical Govind Park.
One of two rescheduled matches from Round 3, the former Oceania Club of the Century closed out the first phase of the competition with the largest winning margin of any club so far.
Much of the attention was on Tahiti United heading into the fixture, who knew a win would seem them leapfrog South Island United and secure their spot in the top four. A horror start quickly saw their hopes evaporate though, conceding twice inside the first 15 minutes as South Melbourne galloped out of sight.
The first came inside the first four minutes, James Lackay bursting into space down the right and scoring against the angle with an excellent finish into the top of the net – celebrating his second goal of the campaign with a trademark backflip.
Jordan Swibel followed with his first goal since Round 3 in Melbourne in the 14th minute too – tucking the ball home after Teave Teamotuitau failed to deal with the rebound from a Jordan Lampard long shot.
It got worse for Tahiti United when they had a goal disallowed moments later. Joseph Athale saw his initial shot parry off the right post, before Manuarii Shan scored on the rebound, only for the goal to be ruled out for offside.
It proved a sucker punch that Tahiti United couldn’t recover from, and they lost control as the floodgates opened for their opponents.
Lackay’s driven cross found Aaron Cocks at the back post to add the third in the 26th minute, before Tommy Giannakopoulos scored the fourth in the 34th with a header from a delicate Lampard set-piece delivery.
Andrew Mesourouni got in on the action too, stealing the ball off Roonui Tehau, and dancing through the Tahiti United defence to score a wonderful individual goal, whilst Cocks got his second before the half-time break, as South Melbourne FC took a dominant six-goal lead to the sheds.
Desperately in need of some stability to stem the flow of goals, Tahiti United coach Samuel Garcia made three changes at the break.
It appeared to work momentarily, keeping their opponents scoreless for just over 20 minutes of the second half, whilst scoring a goal of their own. One of those substitutes, Germain Haewegene, adding a consolation in the 62nd minute.
The resistance proved brief though, Ishveer Singh coming off the bench to add South Melbourne’s seventh after latching onto a simple direct ball into the penalty box from Andrew Mesourouni.
Che Gorr Burchmore rounded out the scoring in the 71st minute with South Melbourne’s eighth, as they coasted to a confident victory.
Following today’s two rescheduled Round 3 fixtures, the league splits in two for the Leaders and Challengers Group, to be played in Auckland in May.
South Melbourne FC should arrive in the Leaders Group in confident mood, whilst this result has the potential to be a damaging one for Tahiti United through the rest off their campaign in the Challengers Group.
