Lewis at the double for Navy Blues

Words: ACFC Media

Wednesday 15 March 2017

AUCKLAND, New Zealand - Auckland City FC took a major step toward the semi-finals of the OFC Champions League after a double by Clayton Lewis handed the Navy Blues a 2-0 win over Lae City Dwellers in Mangere today.

The Navy Blues maintained possession for the majority of the first half but were unable to find the back of the net, either sending attempts wide of goal or straight to the hands of Lae goalkeeper Ronald Warisan.

It wasn’t until Fabrizio Tavano found Clayton Lewis with his free kick in the 44th minute that the All White was able to connect with the ball and send it into the back of the net. The second half saw a similar battle, with Clayton Lewis once again scoring the only goal of the half when he received a cross from Emiliano Tade and fired his attempt past Warisan.

Emiliano Tade was unlucky not to get his name on the score sheet throughout the clash, sending the ball wide several times throughout the first half. Multiple impressive saves from Warisan also kept Albert Riera, Cam Howiesen, and Tavano out of goal until the final whistle.

Lae City Dwellers coach Peter Gunemba was short for words after the heart-breaking loss, but was pleased with the strong challenge shown by his side against the region’s top club team.

“I’m pleased with the boys, especially our defence,” he said.

“We were playing the defending champions and they are much better than us but we are happy with the performance of the boys.

“We knew Auckland City were going to be the biggest obstacle but it’s over now so we’ll just concentrate on winning our last game.”

After the close result in their opening match against Western United, Auckland City coach Ramon Tribulietx was pleased to see a more dominant display against Lae, and thought his side was unlucky to only find the net twice in the 90 minutes of play.

“It was a very well-played game, we dominated from the start, similar to the other day but maybe even more today,” he said.

“We created heaps of chances that, had we put more away, would have made it a more comfortable game, but I’m happy with that performance.

“We knew they are going to be very intense. They are very physically athletic and technically very good and they try to capitalise the transition so we needed to make sure that we kept our ball circulating and I think we kept that in most parts of the game.”

The qualifier for the single spot in the semi-final will be determined when Lae City Dwellers face Western United before Auckland City take on Malampa Revivors in the final day of action in Group C for the OFC Champions League at Mangere Centre Park in Auckland on 18 March.

Ends

OFC Champions League - Group C Results
Western United [SOL]: 2 (Joses NAWO 25', Henry FA'ARODO 75' PEN)
Malampa Revivors FC [VAN]: 1 (John ALICK 52' PEN')
Half-time: 1-0

Auckland City FC [NZL] 2 (Clayton LEWIS 44', 61')
Lae City Dwellers [PNG]: 0
Half-time: 1-0