New Zealand's All Whites took a vice-like grip on their Oceania qualifying group for the 2014 FIFA World Cup on September 11, as they thumped the Solomon Islands 6-1 at North Harbour Stadium. Six different scorers got in on the act, the first time as many marksmen have hit the net for the All Whites in a single game since the 13-0 rout of Fiji at Mt. Smart Stadium on 16 August 1981, a victory which is still New Zealand's biggest on the world stage, and their biggest since 4 June 2004, when a 10-0 rout of Tahiti was recorded. The home team got into their stride straight from the kick-off, with Costa Barbarouses going close to doing justice to Chris Killen's deft flick just 47 seconds after referee Bertrand Billon had blown his whistle to get things under way. Further pressure followed, and was again rewarded in the eighth minute, as Leo Bertos forced Tome Faisi to gift possession to Killen. He clipped a cross to Shane Smeltz, who was thwarted at close quarters by Solomons' goalkeeper Samson Koti. The 'keeper was beaten all ends up four minutes later by a simple set-piece goal, but why the visitors left Smeltz unmarked at a corner only they will know. Bertos picked out the in-form marksman with his delivery, and Smeltz gleefully steered a crisply struck first-time shot through the crowded goalmouth into the far corner of the net from twelve yards. The All Whites were still celebrating mentally when Winston Reid gifted possession to Gagame Feni, who instantly sent Benjamin Totori buccaneering through the home team's rearguard. But the visitors' star striker fired woefully wide of the near post - from him, better is expected, and certainly will be when he fronts up for Wellington Phoenix in the Hyundai A-League from next month. New Zealand were well on top, despite the sometimes weird and consistently far from wonderful officiating taking place - some of the decisions being made by referee Billon and his term rightly earned the ire of the 7,931-strong crowd. An example of this came in the 21st minute, when Michael McGlinchey burst down the right and picked out Barbarouses with a cross. Koti parried his header towards Smeltz, who, despite being in an offside position, wasn't flagged for being so. Scrambling to recover, Koti managed to thwart Smeltz and bundle the ball over the goal-line for a corner, only for a goal-kick to be signalled … yes, it wasn't the officials' finest hour-and-a-half by any stretch of the imagination. Four minutes later, the All Whites doubled their lead. Ryan Nelsen played the ball wide to Tony Lochhead, who pinged a ball up the line which sent Barbarouses scampering clear of all-comers. The fleet-footed striker - he had a terrific game - rounded the charging figure of Koti then side-stepped a covering defender in the penalty area before steering home a goal his performance richly deserved. Two minutes later, Koti was involved in a collision with Killen which left both players in need of treatment. The goalkeeper soldiered on until just before half-time before he succumbed to his injury, but New Zealand failed to exploit his discomfort while he remained on the pitch. Indeed, it was the Solomons who threatened more often in the period before half-time, Totori rattling the side-netting following a short corner routine with Feni, before captain Henry Fa'arodo thumped a driven cross into Mark Paston's chest five minutes before the interval, after Totori had nicked the ball off Nelsen as the All Whites' captain charged out of defence. Prior to this, New Zealand had strong claims for a penalty waved away by referee Billon after Barbarouses was bundled over in the area, an action repeated two minutes into the second spell following a Nelsen-inspired raid which saw Smeltz rattle the bar with a bullet header from close range. Barbarouses latched onto the rebound and again kissed the turf within seconds courtesy an over-

eager challenge, but … The All Whites continued to press, but fell victim to a classic counter-attacking goal in the 51st minute. Bertos' corner to the far post saw Reid's header parried by Koti's replacement, Paul Huia. The rebound was scrambled away, and suddenly it was the charge of the light brigade down the pitch, Totori leading the way until his progress was thwarted by a couple of recovering defenders. The striker held the ball up well in spite of their presence, then laid it back for Leslie Nate, who delivered a viciously struck angled low cross into the penalty area. Fa'arodo was entering the eighteen-yard box at the same time, and darted in front of Reid to send a thumping volley arrowing past the diving figure of Paston into the bottom right-hand corner of the net. A Solomons' goal certainly wasn't in the script, and the All Whites responded instantly in a manner which delighted the local faithful. Bertos checked inside from the right and curled a delightful left-footed cross onto the head of Killen. Huia got his hands to the header, but couldn't keep it out, much to the delight of the scorer and the gathered throngs. The visitors' heads dropped instantly, and the match quickly became a case of "by how many" New Zealand would win. Huia somehow pawed out a powerful Killen header from a Bertos corner on the hour, while the All Whites squandered two glorious chances to increase their lead in the 64th minute. McGlinchey played in Smeltz, whose low cross zoomed across the bows of the incoming figure of Killen. Lochhead was following up, and fired in another cross towards the striker which Huia managed to parry beyond the stranded number ten. Five minutes later, the All Whites went 4-1 up, with Barbarouses the architect. His lovely through ball released Killen to the by-line, from where he clipped in a cross. Huia parried it, straight into the stride of Lochhead, who gleefully fired home his maiden international goal from point-blank range. Three minutes later, Killen and Tommy Smith got in each other's way as they both went for a Bertos corner. The striker won the race, only to see Huia again thwart him with a parried save. After Barbarouses lashed a twenty-five yarder narrowly past the post of the scrambling Solomons' substitute goalkeeper, two goals in three minutes left All Whites' coach Ricki Herbert celebrating the team's biggest win of his tenure, in his fiftieth "A" international to boot. Substitute Ben Sigmund played in Barbarouses on the right, and he did the fullback a treat before delivering a peach of a cross which another substitute, Chris Wood, simply chested into the net - 5-1, with ten minutes to go. Three minutes later, and seconds after Killen had been denied a goal by a foul only referee Billon saw, McGlinchey played Wood through the offside trap. He rounded Huia before setting up Marco Rojas to score his first international goal with his first touch after coming on as a substitute seconds beforehand. There were further chances to score, but McGlinchey hit the side-netting from an acute angle after being forced wide by Huia, while Barbarouses went close with a curling twenty yarder before Wood and Reid contrived to butcher a chance to make it 7-1 in stoppage time. 6-1 was their lot, however, a result which leaves the All Whites well in command of the group even at this stage of proceedings, and already on course to take on the fourth-placed team from CONCACAF in fourteen months' time. All Whites:     Paston; Reid, Nelsen (Sigmund, 73), Smith; Bertos, McGlinchey, Vicelich (Rojas, 82), Lochhead; Barbarouses, Killen, Smeltz (Wood, 73 (booked, 84)) Solomons:     Koti (Huia, 43); Aengari, Faisi, Kilifa, Kini; Nate, Fa'arodo, Bule; Nawo, Totori, Feni (Teleda, 54) Referee:     Bertrand Billon (New Caledonia)