{"id":515560,"date":"2026-03-03T08:04:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T08:04:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/515560\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T08:04:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T08:04:12","slug":"tahiti-united-close-in-on-top-four","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/515560\/","title":{"rendered":"Tahiti United close in on top four"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tahiti United picked up their second victory of the season after a narrow win against PNG Hekari FC, as the two sides played their rescheduled Round 1 fixture in Melbourne.<\/p>\n

Heavy rain meant the match had been called off in Auckland, with the teams extending their time in Australia to finally meet one another.<\/p>\n

With both sitting seventh and eighth in the table respectively, a win would be crucial in keeping their top four hopes alive and it was Tahiti United who seemed more intent on securing those three points, as they made a positive start.<\/p>\n

Just over fifteen minutes were on the clock when Sam Garcia\u2019s side took a deserved lead. Mat\u00e9o Degrumelle played a smart one-two with Terai Bremond before calmly finishing past Dave Tomare.<\/p>\n

Captain Teaonui Tehau should have doubled the lead immediately afterwards but placed his effort over the bar when clean through on goal.<\/p>\n

PNG Hekari were slowly making their way back into the contest and were guilty of passing up a wonderful chance, when Rex Naime broke clear down the right-hand side, squaring for the unmarked John Orobulu, but the winger could only mistime his effort and the ball squirmed away.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Tahiti United\u2019s Germain Haewegene OFC Pro League 2026, Tahiti United v PNG Hekari FC, Home of the Matildas, Melbourne, Tuesday 3 March 2026. Photo: Asanka Brendon Ratnayake \/ www.phototek.nz<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

To their credit, PNG Hekari ended the half well, with Raymond Gunemba going close. The experienced forward drilling an effort that was excellently saved by Teave Teamotuaitau.<\/p>\n

Sam Garcia responded to a low-key end to the first 45 minutes from his side by making three changes at the break and it paid immediate dividends.<\/p>\n

Joseph Athale whipped in a brilliant cross from the right that evaded Tomare and substitute Manuarii Shan was on hand to nod in with his first touch of the match.<\/p>\n

Not to be outdone however, Jerry Allen\u2019s side hit back within minutes. Joseph Joe picking the ball up 30 yards from goal, playing a clever one-two with Rex Naime and side-footing his effort expertly into the top corner to half the arrears.<\/p>\n

Shan almost grabbed his second to put the match beyond doubt. It was Tehau again to the fore, finding space down the left and pulling a pass back for Shan to fire just wide of the near post.<\/p>\n

Tehau himself had a chance heading into stoppage time when found by a slide rule through pass by Cedovan Taniel, but his shot was deflected wide.<\/p>\n

The victory puts Tahiti United level with fourth-placed Vanuatu United as they now look ahead to Round 4.<\/p>\n

Tahiti United:\u00a02 (Mat\u00e9o DEGRUMELLE 16\u2032, Manuarii SHAN 47\u2032)
PNG Hekari FC:\u00a01 (Joseph JOE 53\u2032)<\/p>\n

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

Photo Credit: OFC Media via Phototek<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tahiti United picked up their second victory of the season after a narrow win against PNG Hekari FC,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":515561,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-515560","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\/515560","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=515560"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515560\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/515561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=515560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=515560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=515560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}