The CommBank Joeys have continued their PacificAus Sports Football Tour 2026 with a hard-earnt victory over an impressive and talented Solomon Islands U-19 outfit.
A hat-trick from Luke Becvinovski was the highlight of a 5-2 victory in which the scoreline was not representative of how hard Australia had to work for the result.
Solomon Islands’ physical advantage was evident early on with the two-year age gap making it tough for the Australian defenders to deal with, especially with the home team playing balls behind the defence for their forwards to run onto to.
Despite the physical battle, Australia gained an early lead through Becvinovski when the striker collected the ball out wide, combined with Corey Da Cruz, beat a defender with his touch and calmly finished just inside the near post.
The lead only lasted seven minutes with Danford Fiumae scoring the best goal seen on the tour so far. With the Joeys giving away cheap possession, a combination between Kennedy Sihiu and Junior Doropita set-up Fiumae for a first-time strike from well outside the box. The shot hit the underside of the crossbar and bounced over the line.
This started a period of intent from Solomon Islands, with the home team almost going ahead when Jimson Abana’s header was expertly saved by Australian goalkeeper Mitchell Bright. Bright’s involvement was crucial again just a minute later when he held onto a firm and dangerous strike by Jayrol Patty.
By this stage, the match had turned into a game of transition and Australia were struggling to deal with their older and faster opposition – particularly when SI found themselves in space with the ball, or running onto the ball.
The onslaught from Solomon Islands was intense but Australia held on and the tide started turn with several half chances before the Joeys once again took the lead with a goal to Cristian Lombardo.
Cutting inside his man, Lombardo drove into space before feeding Becvinovski forward run and moving to the top of the box. There, he received a return pass hit a perfectly placed shot into the bottom right corner.
It was clear that the momentum had swung firmly Australia’s way but the Joeys were made to pay for their failure to capitalise on a flurry of half chances when the home team equalised in the third minute of first half stoppage time.
The equaliser came from a set piece with Abana leaping highest, flicking the ball over and away from Bright. An against the run of play goal which meant the teams went into the sheds locked at 2-2.
If the Joeys were frustrated at missing several first half chances, it all changed in the second stanza with clinical finishing as they ran away with the game.
Just four minutes into the second half, with a play that started from the keeper, the Joeys worked the ball up the field, with the decisive moment seeing Joey Sikora turn his defender inside-out before delivering a line-breaking pass to the forward-running Becvinovski. The striker took a touch and then nutmegged the keeper for his second goal of the game.
From that moment, the Joeys did not let off the pressure with Becvinovski securing his hat-trick from close range before Max Court converted a penalty to wrap-up the scoring.
CommBank Joeys head coach, Carl Veart, said a tough match against older opposition was a perfect contest for his new-look squad.
“Solomon Islands were tough with their bigger and stronger bodies. They put us under a lot of pressure, they pressed very well, and they kept it up for most of the game. It was a tough game, they were a strong side and put a lot of pressure on our players. We’ve come away with a win, I’m very happy with that, but there’s some good areas there that we need to improve on,” said Veart.
“It's a good learning experience for the boys to know that they have to play a little bit quicker and take less touches in the middle of the park. We will learn from some of the things that we did tonight and hopefully improve for the next game.
“It's a process that we're going through on building our playing style. We've brought quite a few new players into this squad that haven't been in before so games like this is just about them understanding how we want to play and to build bonds and relationships. We need football matches to do that and we got a very tough one tonight which was excellent.”
The PacificAus Sports Football Tour 2026 continues for the CommBank Joeys with a third and final match on Saturday 24 January as they take on Solomon Islands U-19s for a second time. Kick-off is 4.00pm at National Stadium, Honiara and will be broadcast live and free on the Football Australia YouTube channel.
MATCH DETAILS
Solomon Islands U-19: 2 (Fiumae 14’, Abana 45’+3)
CommBank Joeys: 5 (Becvinovski 7’ 49’ 65’, Lombardo 36’, Court 82’)
CommBank Joeys: 4. Miles MILLINER (. Marcus SAVIC), 5. William KENGNI, 8. Luka DEMUTH, 9. Luke BECVINOVSKI (20. Georgio HASSARATI), 12. Mitchell BRIGHT (18. Laris CESKO), 15. Emile KATRIB (13. Winston ASHBURNER), 16. Ryan BUTTIGIEG (22. Oliver O'CARROLL), 17. Joey SIKORA (11. Max COURT), 21. Corey DA CRUZ (7. Aston REID), 23. Taj SORENSEN (14. Fraser BROWN), 24. Cristian LOMBARDO (10. Malik OLUKHALE)
Substitutes not used: 1. Cooper WINQVIST, 6. Sajjad NASIRI, 19. Stevan RUJAK
Yellow Card: Milliner 45’+2, Court 89’
Red Card: Nil
Solomon Islands U-19: 1. Lawrence SAMO, 2. Goerge KENI (18. Emmanuel SUIMAE), 3. Benol JUNIOR, 4. Steward APANIAI (23. Einstein HAÁRAWOURI), 5. Michael HORI (21. Jack LAKAPAU), 7. Junior DOROPITA, 8. Danford FIUMAE, 9. Kennedy SIHIU (6. Blake CELTIA), 10. Jayrol PATTY, 13. Jimson ABANA, 14. Crawford HUNIPAURO (17. Kevin KAKASI)
Substitutes not used: 12. Alick HALE, 15. Stephen MANGO, 16. Welkens SIOSI, 19. Ben FILIA, 20. Peter MAUTOA JNR, 24. Adrian KIONIMAE, 25. Joel KOFELA, 26. Schurman MANEDIKA
Yellow Card: Haárawouri 73’
Red Card: Nil
MATCH SCHEDULE – PACIFICAUS SPORTS FOOTBALL TOUR 2026
Match Three
Date: Saturday, 24 January 2026
Kick-off: 4pm AEDT/4pm Local
Teams: Solomon Islands U-19 v CommBank Joeys
Venue: National Stadium, Honiara, Solomon Islands