New Zealand’s All Whites forged into a three-goal lead in the opening half-hour against the Solomons Islands in their third place play-off in Honiara, only for the host nation to match those goals in the second spell before the outgoing OFC Nations Cup holders snatched a dramatic winner to claim a 4-3 victory in stoppage time. The Solomons went close with the game’s first attack, Joshua Tuasulia seeing his header headed off the line by Aaron Clapham following a Henry Fa’arodo corner. It was from another corner that the deadlock would be broken. Clapham’s eleventh minute delivery saw Costa Barbarouses’ presence force diminutive Solomons goalkeeper Shadrack Ramoni to punch the ball skywards from beneath his own crossbar. What goes up must come down, and Chris Wood made sure he was directly underneath the ball when it did to convert an easy close-range header. That goal rocked the host nation, and within four minutes they should have been two goals down, after Wood, Ian Hogg and Marco Rojas had conjured a slick move down the left. The winger’s cross found Barbarouses arriving beyond the far post in yards of space, but he drilled his first time shot across the face of goal - a bad miss. Abraham Iniga and Fa’arodo fired long-range efforts over Jake Gleeson’s crossbar in the next four minutes, in between which Wood fired a tame effort at Ramoni, who blocked another effort from the goalscorer soon afterwards, Clapham, Rojas and the overlapping figure of Hogg combining to pick out Barbarouses, who set up Wood for a shot on the turn. New Zealand doubled their lead in the 25th minute. Hogg and Rojas worked a one-two on the left which saw the fullback cross from the by-line to the far post, where Wood again rose high to head home his second goal of the game. His hat-trick strike arrived five minutes later. Tim Payne caught Fa’arodo in possession, and Clapham’s swift pass allowed Rojas the chance to play the ball in behind a spreadeagled Solomons defence and pick out the completely unmarked figure of Wood, who bamboozled Ramoni with a mis-struck shot, the ball bouncing past the bemused ‘keeper into the far corner of the net. 3-0 up and cruising with half-an-hour on the clock, the game appeared to be in the bag for the All Whites, and they came close to making it 4-0 seven minutes later. Gleeson’s free-kick picked out Wood, who combined with Barbarouses to play in Rojas. His ten-yarder was tipped round the post by Ramoni, although no corner was given. Another Rojas effort, fired early in the shadows of the half-time whistle, caught Ramoni by surprise, the back-pedalling ‘keeper somehow keeping the effort out seconds after the Solomons had gone close at the other end of the park through substitute Benjamin Totori, whose twenty-yarder rattled Gleeson’s crossbar. It was a warning shot which the Kiwis failed to heed, for just two minutes into the second half, the Solomons opened their account for the afternoon through Himson Teleda, whose crisply struck twenty-yarder arrowed through a crowded goalmouth and into the far corner of the net after a solo raid by another of their substitutes, Hardies Aengari. That goal rocked the All Whites, and after Totori and Wood had gone close at opposite ends of the park - only the outside of the post denied the hat-trick scorer as he met Jeremy Brockie’s measured cross - the Solomons struck again just nine minutes into the second spell. It was a goalkeeping howler by Gleeson which let the host nation right back into the match. Teleda,

Jeffery Bule, and substitutes Leslie Nate and Aengari combined with Tetori, who beat a defender in the penalty area before shooting from an acute angle. Gleeson had his near post covered, but somehow let this effort go through his legs and into the net behind him. 3-2, and the Solomons, buoyed by a growing crowd, now had their tails up and sensed an epic comeback was well and truly on. But before they could pursue, Wood fired another shot across their bows, on the hour. Gifted possession by a wayward pass, the All Whites’ marksman thundered a twenty-yarder against the crossbar. The Solomons looked to make the most of that let-off, but ultimately they failed to do so, largely through a problem of their own making - there was too much solo play from players who had no trouble seeing the whites of the goal frame, but when it came to rewarding better-placed team-mates with a precise pass, selfishness prevailed, and more often than not, the chance went begging. Such as in the seventieth minute, when Fa’arodo and Nelson Sale Kalifa combined to present Totori with the ball following a free-kick. With players better placed either side of him, the striker went for glory, but found Gleeson’s midriff instead. Ten minutes later, another to die for chance went begging, much to the chagrin of the crowd, whose “Go Solo Go” chants were ringing around Lawson Tama Stadium. Fa’arodo set off on a splendid solo run down the left, scythed into the penalty and beat an opponent before letting fly, only for Iniga to inadvertently block his team-mate’s shot. Shane Smeltz had entered the fray for the All Whites by now, and he it was who loomed large on the left five minutes from time before laying the ball back to Hogg. He squared the ball to Barbarouses, but the young striker directed his effort wide of the target. That was a let-off for the Solomons, who continued to chase the game with a passion. But after Gleeson had denied Totori once more, the local talisman responded with a superb equaliser two minutes from time. Bule and Aengari linked with Fa’arodo, whose return pass to Bule allowed the midfielder to switch the ball to Totori on the left. He cut inside, then outfoxed Tim Myers and Michael Boxall before belting a beauty beyond Gleeson and into the top far corner of the net - 3-3, and brilliantly so. Penalties were looming large thanks to that late equaliser, but there was still time for a winner before the shoot-out. And after Fa’arodo had stung the gloves of Gleeson with a twenty-five yard free-kick, the All Whites stole victory at the death. Cameron Howieson, making his first appearance of the tournament, pinged the ball across from the left in the third minute of stoppage time and found Smeltz timing his run to perfection through the offside trap. The striker’s deft touch and cool lob over the stranded figure of Ramoni was quality itself, and clinched a 4-3 win for a young All Whites side which had been 3-0 up after half-an-hour, but which would far rather have been playing in the final against Tahiti, New Zealand’s successors as OFC Nations Cup champions. Solomons: Ramoni; Tuasulia (Aengari, 38), Wickham, Kilifa, Faisi (booked, 82); Bule, Ngava (Nate, 46), Fa’arodo, Teleda; Muri (Totori, 33), Iniga All Whites: Gleeson; Myers (booked, 78), Boxall, Smith (Vicelich, 53), Hogg (booked, 71); Brockie (booked, 80), Clapham, Rojas (Smeltz, 77); Barbarouses, Wood (Howieson, 64), Payne (booked, 90) Referee: Kader Zitouni (Tahiti)