{"id":424154,"date":"2026-05-12T16:33:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T16:33:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/424154\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T16:33:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T16:33:13","slug":"auckland-fc-take-out-ofc-pro-league-derby-beating-south-islanders-5-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/424154\/","title":{"rendered":"Auckland FC take out OFC Pro League derby, beating South Islanders 5-2"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Auckland FC have claimed their third New Zealand derby win of the inaugural OFC Pro League season, defeating South Island United 5-2 at Eden Park.<\/p>\n<p>In a dress rehearsal for their semi-final showdown in eight days\u2019 time, the Aucklanders survived a second-half comeback by the South Islanders to secure their second win of the Leaders Group.<\/p>\n<p>A flurry of second-half goals brightened a match that looked to be a tense stalemate in the first half. Both teams were battling for possession and creating half-chances early on, but were unable to convert.<\/p>\n<p>Auckland FC had the clearer chances, including an excellent opportunity for Oscar Faulds but were unable to find an early breakthrough.<\/p>\n<p>It was perhaps no surprise then that when the opening goal did arrive, it came via a rather unconventional route.<\/p>\n<p>Sustained pressure from Auckland FC in the final ten minutes of the half saw coach Luke Casserly\u2019s men win a corner, with Emiliano Tade\u2019s effort looping over everyone and nestling in the far corner to give his side the lead.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-72426\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Emiliano-Tade.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\"  \/>Emiliano Tade (centre) \u2026 scored the game\u2019s opening goal. Photo credit: OFC Media \/ <a href=\"https:\/\/phototek.co.nz\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Phototek<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Both sides lifted the intensity in the second half, with goals coming in an end-to-end period.<\/p>\n<p>Coach Rob Sherman\u2019s South Islanders found their first thanks to a David Yoo close-range finish, before Riley Grover\u2019s effort from distance took a wicked deflection to fly past Eli Jones and give South Island United the lead.<\/p>\n<p>Unwilling to go down, Auckland FC struck back, scoring three goals in nine minutes to storm back into the lead 4-2.<\/p>\n<p>Aston Burns, who came back into the line-up after missing the last match against Bula, picked up a brace, scoring either side of an own goal, before Isa Prins finished the game off with a strike in the final minutes of the match.<\/p>\n<p>The two sides now prepare for their semi-final showdown at Go Media Stadium next Wednesday, with fellow semi-finalists South Melbourne waiting to see who they will face after this weekend\u2019s semi-final playoff.<\/p>\n<p>Acknowledgement<\/p>\n<p>We thank OFC Media for providing information for this story.<\/p>\n<p>Photo credits: OFC Media \/ <a href=\"https:\/\/phototek.co.nz\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Phototek<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Results<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-31281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778603591_763_FOF-Weekday-Tuesday.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"53\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Games played on Tuesday May 12, 2026<\/p>\n<p>Auckland FC 5 (Emiliano Tade 38\u2032, Aston Burns 58\u2032, 67\u2032, own goal 62\u2032, Isa Prins 86\u2032)<br \/>South Island United 2 (David Yoo 50\u2032, Riley Grover 56\u2032)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tvnz.co.nz\/sport\/football\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-66209 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Stream-TVNZ.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"256\" height=\"37\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>South Melbourne 4 (Jack Pope 12\u2032, Maximilian Mikkola 34\u2032 pen, Andrew Mesourouni 36\u2032, Jordon Lampard 56\u2032)<br \/>Bula 2 (Ibraheem Afazal 19\u2032, Roy Krishna 78\u2032)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.friendsoffootballnz.com\/2026\/05\/12\/south-melbourne-top-of-leaders-group-after-beating-bula-in-ofc-pro-league\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">READ MORE: South Melbourne top of Leaders Group after beating Bula in OFC Pro League<\/a> &gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.plus.fifa.com\/en\/content\/south-melbourne-vs-bula-fc\/a4335142-378d-444e-85dc-2a135acf7266\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-36556 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778603592_534_Stream-watch-here-on-FIFA.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"256\" height=\"33\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>OFC Pro League \u2014 Leaders Group<\/p>\n<p>Club<br \/>\nP<br \/>\nW<br \/>\nD<br \/>\nL<br \/>\nGF<br \/>\nGA<br \/>\nGD<br \/>\nPts<\/p>\n<p>South Melbourne<br \/>\n3<br \/>\n3<br \/>\n0<br \/>\n0<br \/>\n10<br \/>\n5<br \/>\n5<br \/>\n9<\/p>\n<p>Auckland FC<br \/>\n3<br \/>\n2<br \/>\n0<br \/>\n1<br \/>\n8<br \/>\n4<br \/>\n4<br \/>\n6<\/p>\n<p>South Island United<br \/>\n3<br \/>\n1<br \/>\n0<br \/>\n2<br \/>\n5<br \/>\n9<br \/>\n-4<br \/>\n3<\/p>\n<p>Bula<br \/>\n3<br \/>\n0<br \/>\n0<br \/>\n3<br \/>\n2<br \/>\n7<br \/>\n-5<br \/>\n0<\/p>\n<p>OFC Pro League \u2014 Challengers Group<\/p>\n<p>Club<br \/>\nP<br \/>\nW<br \/>\nD<br \/>\nL<br \/>\nGF<br \/>\nGA<br \/>\nGD<br \/>\nPts<\/p>\n<p>Vanuatu United<br \/>\n2<br \/>\n2<br \/>\n0<br \/>\n0<br \/>\n6<br \/>\n3<br \/>\n3<br \/>\n6<\/p>\n<p>Solomon Kings<br \/>\n2<br \/>\n1<br \/>\n0<br \/>\n1<br \/>\n4<br \/>\n4<br \/>\n0<br \/>\n3<\/p>\n<p>Tahiti United<br \/>\n2<br \/>\n0<br \/>\n1<br \/>\n1<br \/>\n3<br \/>\n4<br \/>\n-1<br \/>\n1<\/p>\n<p>PNG Hekari<br \/>\n2<br \/>\n0<br \/>\n1<br \/>\n1<br \/>\n3<br \/>\n5<br \/>\n-2<br \/>\n1<\/p>\n<p>Fixtures<br \/>\nHow to buy tickets<\/p>\n<p>Tickets are available for all games through Ticketek:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ticketmaster.co.nz\/ofc-pro-league-tickets\/artist\/4093209\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-45973 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Ticketek.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"79\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Challengers group \u2014 New Zealand<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-31282\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778603592_84_FOF-Weekday-Wednesday.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"53\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Games to be played on Wednesday May 13, 2026<\/p>\n<p>Solomon Kings v PNG Hekari<br \/>Go Media Stadium, Auckland, 3pm (NZT)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.plus.fifa.com\/en\/content\/solomon-kings-fc-vs-png-hekari-fc\/958ad74f-199b-4838-a344-34febe3aabe6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-36556 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778603592_534_Stream-watch-here-on-FIFA.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"256\" height=\"33\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Tahiti United v Vanuatu United<br \/>Go Media Stadium, Auckland, 7pm (NZT)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.plus.fifa.com\/en\/content\/tahiti-united-vs-vanuatu-united\/f59bf778-7459-4a20-a12f-28f146146710\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-36556 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778603592_534_Stream-watch-here-on-FIFA.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"256\" height=\"33\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Play-offs \u2014 New Zealand<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-31279\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778603593_777_FOF-Weekday-Sunday.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"53\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Game to be played on Sunday May 17, 2026<\/p>\n<p>Bula v 1st-placed team from challengers group<br \/>Go Media Stadium, Auckland, 3pm (NZT)<\/p>\n<p>Semi-finals: Auckland, New Zealand<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-31282\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778603592_84_FOF-Weekday-Wednesday.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"53\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Games to be played on Wednesday May 20, 2026<\/p>\n<p>Semi-final 1<\/p>\n<p>Auckland FC v South Island United<br \/>Go Media Stadium, Auckland, 1.30pm (NZT)<\/p>\n<p>Semi-final 2<\/p>\n<p>South Melbourne v Play-off winner (from May 17)<\/p>\n<p>Go Media Stadium, Auckland, 6.30pm (NZT)<\/p>\n<p>Final: Auckland, New Zealand<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-31279\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778603593_777_FOF-Weekday-Sunday.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"53\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Game to be played on Sunday May 24, 2026<\/p>\n<p>Winner semi-final 1 v winner semi-final 2<br \/>Eden Park, Auckland, 3pm (NZT)<\/p>\n<p>More about the OFC Professional League<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.friendsoffootballnz.com\/category\/ofc-professional-league\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">READ MORE: Our previous stories about the OFC Professional League<\/a>\u00a0&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;<\/p>\n<p>This story was first published on May 12, 2026<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.friendsoffootballnz.com\/latest-news\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">More football stories<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Auckland FC have claimed their third New Zealand derby win of the inaugural OFC Pro League season, defeating&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":424155,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[73757,111,43,139,69,139688,139689,139690],"class_list":["post-424154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-auckland-fc","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-ofc-pro-league","tag-ofc-professional-league","tag-south-island-united"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=424154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424154\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/424155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=424154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=424154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=424154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}