Team Wellington thrash Lautoka 6-0

Wellington: Team Wellington have all but qualified for the Club World Cup after thrashing Fijian side Lautoka by a record 6-0 margin in the first leg of their OFC Champions League final at David Farrington Park yesterday. Despite spurning a slew of goalscoring opportunities to take a slender lead into the halftime break, Team Wellington eventually took complete control of the match when they found the back of the net three times during a seven-minute blitz midway through the second half, with substitute Jack-Henry Sinclair sparking the rout with a double off the bench.

Although Lautoka were camped in their own half throughout the opening 45 minutes they were still well in the game just 1-0 down, after a series of near misses from Team Wellington’s forwards stopped the scoreline from blowing out. However, that was not the case for long as Sinclair, Andy Bevin, Mario Barcia and Taylor Schrijvers all scored second half goals for Team Wellington, after Ross Allen earlier poked in a rebound after the initial effort from defender Roy Kayara clipped the underside of the crossbar and dropped to his feet.

Team Wellington coach Jose Figueira said the game could not have gone any better for his team, who will now take a commanding six-goal advantage into the return leg at Churchill Park in Lautoka this Sunday. “We’ll be keeping our feet on the ground but it’s obviously a great performance and a result that is probably more than you were asking for in the first leg,”Figueira said. Lautoka played the final 30 minutes with just 10 men after Praneel Naidua was dismissed for a reckless and needless tackle on Kayara.-Stuff