Ba FC of Fiji dumps Marist of Solomon Islands in first O league encounter in Honiara

The Ba Football Club of Fiji has turned the table on Solomon Islands Marist side with a 2-0 victory in their first O'League encounter which ended a few minutes ago at Lawson Tama in Honiara.

It is understood Fiji's soccer kings, Ba, has won the opening match in the Oceania Club League in front of more than 17,000 people at the Lawson Tama Stadium in Honiara. Ba silenced the frenzied crowd with goals from striker Osea Vakatalesau and goalkeeper Laisenia Tuba, who was later named man of the match and received an award from the Oceania Football Confederation for his outstanding performance in goalkeeping.

Earlier before the game, both teams were adamant of their chances as local fans flocked into Honiara from the provinces to witness the match which came as an international match at home after a while since the Socceroos and Solomons Qualifying match in 2005.

Today's match was an important one for both teams as a win will greatly boost their chances of qualifying if they win all their scheduled matches in the Group B O-League competition.

The winner of Group B will progress to a two-legged final against the winner of Group A containing defending champions Auckland City, NZFC table-toppers Waitakere United and New Caledonia's top club AS Mont Dore. Auckland City currently sits on top of Group A with 4 points, Waitakere United are second with 1 point and AS Mont Dore are currently bottom following a 2-0 home defeat against Auckland City.

Group B's fixture list has been affected by last minute travel cancellations and no games have been played as yet. Ba FC and Marist FC are heavily favoured to contest the top spot in this section with AS Temanava of Tahiti struggling to find their form domestically.

However, Ba FC is now leading the race with 3 points ahead of its match with AS Temanava of Tahiti on Friday this week. Ba will travel back to Fiji tomorrow and then fly off to Tahiti on Wednesday.

Marist FC still has to play an away match with Ba and a home and away match with the Tahiti club representative.