{"id":502800,"date":"2026-02-25T09:04:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T09:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/502800\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T09:04:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T09:04:11","slug":"vanuatu-united-power-past-solomon-kings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/502800\/","title":{"rendered":"Vanuatu United power past Solomon Kings"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vanuatu United turned in their best performance of the season to see off Solomon Kings and register their second win in a row in Melbourne.<\/p>\n

Heavy rain and thunderstorms had seen both of yesterday\u2019s matches postponed, allowing these two sides an opportunity to press their top four credentials ahead of the weekend.<\/p>\n

Solomon Kings have been impressive throughout two rounds, boasting the best defensive record in the league, but were on the backfoot for much of the first-half.<\/p>\n

Defender David Supa almost cost them early on with a lazy back pass to goalkeeper Phillip Mango, who was fortunately able to scramble the ball clear.<\/p>\n

William Cardona was back in the starting eleven for Vanuatu United and it was the instrumental midfielder who broke the deadlock. The American\u2019s corner-kick from the left-hand side whipped over everyone, including Mango, nestling in the far corner to make it 1-0.<\/p>\n

Lars Hopp\u2019s side had the ball in the net again shortly after when Otto Ingham squared for Raymond Diho to finish, but Ingham had been flagged offside in the buildup.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Vanuatu United FC\u2019s Kathy Iamak and Solomon Kings FC\u2019s Gordon Iro OFC Pro League 2026, Vanuatu United FC v Solomon Kings FC, Home of the Matildas, Melbourne, Wednesday 25 February 2026. Photo: Hamish Blair \/ www.phototek.nz<\/p>\n

Solomon Kings would have been thankful for the half-time break and a chance to reset but they were immediately under pressure after the restart and were two down within ten minutes.<\/p>\n

Ingham crossed into the area from the left, Owen Smith laid the ball off and Bill Kaltack arrowed a stunning volley low and past Mango into the corner to spark joyous scenes from the loud and passionate Vanuatu United support.<\/p>\n

There were some sparks of attacking intent from Solomon Kings, with Jez Lofthouse forcing a smart save from Matt Acton after cutting in from the right and firing low at goal.<\/p>\n

Rafa Lea\u2019i was brought off the bench on the hour mark as Ben Cahn looked to try and turn the tide, with his team struggling to create clear cut chances.<\/p>\n

VAR was again involved to deny Vanuatu United. This time Owen Smith sprinting clear and after his initial effort hit both posts, the forward scrambled in the rebound, only for a subsequent check to deem he had strayed offside.<\/p>\n

Yet another check denied Vanuatu United soon after. This time Raymond Diho had the ball in the net but after a VAR check, the young forward had been in an offside position when teammate Alex Saniel got a slight touch to the ball.<\/p>\n

Saniel himself was the next to have a chance to kill off the tie but he was denied by a good save by Mango when through on goal.<\/p>\n

Lea\u2019i came close to a consolation in the final seconds with an excellent run and low effort that cracked off Matt Acton\u2019s right-hand post but time was fast running out for Solomon Kings.<\/p>\n

The victory keeps Vanuatu United in fifth place but they are now level with South Island United, kept out of the top four only by goal difference.<\/p>\n

Vanuatu United FC:\u00a02 (William CARDONA 29\u2032, Bill KALTACK 53\u2032)
Solomon Kings FC:\u00a00<\/p>\n

HT: 1-0<\/p>\n

Photo Credit: OFC Media via Phototek<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Vanuatu United turned in their best performance of the season to see off Solomon Kings and register their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":502801,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-502800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=502800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502800\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/502801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=502800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=502800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=502800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}