TAHITI – MANU URA STAY TOP DESPITE DRAW

Pirae made their intentions clear in the opening exchanges of the game with early waves of attack against the league leaders. Striker José Hmaé went close after just three minutes forcing goalkeeper Daniel Tapeta to tip his shot over the bar. The Manu Ura goalkeeper was called on again in the 7th minute after a strike from Pirae captain Naea Bennett but this time Tapeta could only manage to parry the shot away to Axel William who fired home for Pirae at close range. 

Pirae held the one goal advantage going into halftime but the former O-League representatives Manu Ura fought back to equalise in the 46th minute through Aldo Tauihara who had replaced Billy Mataitai at the break. Tauihara’s influence in the game proved crucial when he scored again in the 57th minute.

From that point it looked like another win for the frontrunners. But Pirae kept attacking and their efforts paid off when captain Bennet grabbed an equaliser through a powerful header in the dying minutes of the game. The draw leaves Pirae fifth on the table with seven points but with two games in hand.

Manu Ura remain top of the table with 18 points from their five playoff matches.

Sitting in second on 12 points is AS Tac, a team that has never won the competition since the new playoff format was introduced. This year Tac have a chance of taking the title and their confidence levels will be soaring after a convincing 2-0 victory against AS Tiara Tahiti on Sunday.

It took just five minutes for Tac to expose the weaknesses of Tiara’s defense with William Tauraa finding the back of the net to take his goal tally to five for the season. Both teams squandered opportunities in the remainder of the first half, but in the 57th minute John Lee Tham made it two for Tac. Gilbert Meriel went close to adding a third soon after when he fired a shot against the bar but the match finished at 2-0.

Tiara are now languishing at the bottom of the table with just 4 points from their three games.

In the only other playoff match at the weekend, AS Tefana and AS Dragon finished in a deadlock at 0-0. After four games, Tefana are equal with the U-20 Selection on 11 points while AS Dragon have five points from their three matches.