Vanuatu's Tafea FC upset Lautoka 2-1 at Churchill Park this afternoon to take the lead in Group B of the 2010 O League.
The much anticipated match kicked off in front of a jam packed crowd which also included some Vanuatu supporters comprising of students from the tertiary institutes in Suva.
The bright and shiny weather complemented by the perfect turf condition at Churchill Park allowed both teams to display fast paced and constructive football.
The early stages of the match saw play see-sawing from one end to the other as both teams tried to test each others defence.
Tafea silenced the home crowd in the 22nd minute of play after Jean Nako climbed over the Lautoka defence to head in the opening goal of the match. Tafea was awarded a freekick outside the Lautoka 18 yard box which was executed well by Sakama and found Nako.
The visitors had the chance to extend their lead in the 31st minute after Ilaitia Tuilau deliberately handled the ball in his desperation to clear it off his goal-line. Tahitian referee Norbert Hauata flashed a red card to Tuilau and awarded to Tafea but Fredy Vava's attempt was saved in style by Lautoka goalie James Choropoulous much to the delight of the Shop and Save Blues fans.
With a man down, New Zealand based Salesh Kumar moved to the sweeper's berth to mark the speedy and crafty Tafea strikers.
Striker Valerio Nawatu restored joy for Lautoka in added time of the first spell after finding the back of the net. He well utilised a defensive blunder by the Tafea defence to take the teams to the breather with a 1-1 scoreline.
He however was flashed a yellow card for taking off his jersey while celebrating his goal.
The second half started with both teams aiming to score goals and register a win which would better their standing in the group and also their chances of appearing in the O League final against the winner of group A.
Lautoka missed chance after chance at Tafea goalmouth as goalie Alfred Malas made save after save. Francois Sakama scored the second goal of the match in the 77th minute of play after making full use of a Malakai Waqa blunder.
Lautoka coach Imdad Ali sent in Apisai Smith and Arvindra Naidu to ignite some spark upfront in the last ten minutes of the match but the stubborn Tafea defence led by Malas, Vava and Roger Joe kept the scores intact and gave Tafea the much needed lead in Group B.
Ali after the match said his side was just too unfortunate not to win the match as they had full control of the match and should have scored goals.
"We dominated possession completely but failed to capitalise on our chances which indeed resulted in our downfall."
"Fitness of some players was also a contributing factor today but overall I am happy with the performance of the players and we will go back to the drawing board to iron out our mistakes and plan for the remaining matches next year."
"We have slipped to the second spot now and will need to work extremely hard to retain the lead in the group and qualify for the final of the O League."
Tafea coach Graham Demas was overjoyed with the win and said he did not aim for a away victory.
"This is a bonus for us as we did not prepare well for this match."
"We just organised everything in our hotel yesterday upon arriving in Fiji and I am really happy with the win which has given us the lead in Group B."
"I told the boys to just be confident and play simple soccer and retain possession and am glad they did what they were told."
"We have beaten Lautoka's unbeaten record and will have to raise the standard high in the remaining matches out of which we are hosting three" he said.
The win pushes Tafea to 7 points while Lautoka slips to second spot with 6 points.
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