Draws galore midway through round two of the OFC Pro League

Solomon Kings FC 0- 0 South Island United

Solomon Kings FC and South Island United played out a goalless draw in the OFC Pro League in Port Moresby on Wednesday.

The Solomon Islanders had the lion's share of possession and a multitude of chances (Including a spot kick!) but just could not find the back of the net.

Kings' winger, Jez Lofthouse, who was named man of the match, said he was proud of their efforts despite the result.

"Once again it seems to be a bit of our story of our season so far not being able to find the back of the net. I had a great chance in the first half with a penalty that I really should score. [There were a]few other chances that we had," Lofthouse said.

"But I'm so proud of the boys, like the football that we're playing. Yeah, it's just really good. And yeah, I'm just really proud of the performance, but we really need to start just putting the ball in the back of the net," the Australian said.

South Island United on the other hand will be pleased to have secured a point from the tough match two thirds of the way through the second round of the OFC Pro League.

Despite playing most of it in their own half the Kiwis showed some flashes of brilliance on the counter very nearly taking the lead deep in the second half.

South Island United coach Rob Sherman said he could not fault his strikers, but he was critical of his team's transition in the midfield.

"We can do better than that. And definitely a number of passes that could have gone through didn't, we didn't actually execute, but we can work on that," Sherman said.

"We'll have a look back at the game and analyse it and the last game and we'll, you know, determine what we'll improve."

Solomon Kings coach Benjamin Cahn, whose charge's solitary goal in the tournament was scored way back in their season opener in New Zealand, said ironically in the short turnaround from last week they had talked about turning more of their possession into chances.

"We're playing some amazing football in a very short period of time. And you know, had we taken a couple of those good opportunities today, we would have got three points," Cahn said.

"And the next step for us is to just be a little bit more clinical in the box."

Bula FC 1-1 South Melbourne FC

The later match on Wednesday also ended in a draw despite Bula FC nearly causing un upset against second placed South Melbourne FC who were picked apart in the second half having dominated the first half.

Full-time ended with a goal apiece both stemming from defensive errors.

South Melbourne FC's Andrew Mesourouni drew first blood in the 13th minute standing completely unmarked in the box he tapped in from close range off a long throw-in.

Meanwhile Bula FC's equaliser in the 42nd minute came from a solo effort by energetic forward Christopher Wasasala, who charged down and poached the ball off a square pass in the box before side-footing past the hapless South Melbourne keeper who had initiated the pass.

Bula FC midfielder Yuta Konagaya, who was named man of the match, said they really wanted a win against the Aussies.

"Especially South Melbourne, it's a big team. The first 20 or 30 minutes we struggled, but after that we showed how we play our style of football which we're really proud of," Konagaya said.

"Obviously the result is not there so we need to work a bit more but I'm so happy that our boys, um, how we performed in there."

South Melbourne FC coach Sinisa Cohadzic said the Fijians were quick on the counter, but he felt his team was in it all the way through the match, they just could not convert their chances into goals.

"To give credit to Bula FC they were organised they tried their luck on the break, and they tried to hurt us like that. We tried our best we tried to break them in different ways, and we tried it until the end," Cohadzic said.

"Simply we couldn't score the second goals and probably it's a fair result on the end," he said.

Bula FC coach Stephane Auvray said he played some different players today and he was very proud of how they stepped up.

"We know that we have a very strong bench, whoever is playing on the bench we have options everybody is engaged," Auvray said.

"Obviously I think we had better and more chances and we should have killed the game. Hopefully it (this habit) will not last forever because we are leaving points behind us.

"But again, for this season it is the content and the players are showing really good things," he said.

Standings

The results from Wednesday's matches saw very little movement in the standings. Auckland FC and South Melbourne FC remain the top two teams in the competition.

Bula FC are in third place having beaten the fourth placed Solomon Kings FC last week.

Round 2 hosts PNG Hekari FC continue to languish at the bottom of the table with only one point from their draw against Vanuatu United on Tuesday.

The final matches for round two continue this weekend in Port Moresby.

Saturday, 7 February:

Auckland FC vs Solomon Kings FC

Kick-off 2:30pm NZT

PNG Hekari FC vs South Island United FC

Kick-off 6:30pm NZT

Sunday, 8 February:

South Melbourne FC vs Vanuatu United FC

Kick-off: 2:30pm

Tahiti United FC vs Bula FC

Kick-off: 6:30pm

Santos National Football Stadium