Two goals by Roger Guedes including a late winner has given Shandong Luneng Taishan a last-gasp come-from-behind 2-1 victory over a beaten but not disgraced Auckland City in Hong Kong. 

Auckland City shrugged off the 12-hour flight - and their journey from Christchurch where they defeated Canterbury United 1-0 last Saturday - to turn in a competitive performance inspired by the sparkling Micah Lea'alafa.The defeat ended Auckland City's unbeaten sequence of 32 games over the course of a year, one month and 30 days, dating back to their 1-0 loss to Al Jazira at the FIFA Club World Cup UAE on December 7, 2017. 

They still remain unbeaten in New Zealand and Oceania competition dating back to their defeat to Team Wellington on domestic business in October of 2017 but that will be of scant consolation to them. 

The former Oceania champions caused Shandong Luneng more than their fair share of problems in wide areas with Lea'alafa testing goalkeeper Wang Dalei as early as the first minute with a speculative effort. 

The Chinese Super League champions took a while to get in their stride but once they did the combination of former English Premier League striker Graziano Pelle and Guedes proved a handful.

Guedes in particular outshone Pelle but Auckland weren't without their contributors either with Fabrizio Tavano, Angel Berlanga, Mario Bilen, Brian Kaltack and Cam Howieson also turning in good performances.

Lea'alafa was at the heart of Auckland's attacking threats and when he latched onto a deflected through ball from substitute Dylan Manickum to slip between the Shandong defence to score the game's opening goal, most fans had barely got back to their seats for the second half.

The Solomon Islands international was then taken off after he cramped up and the momentum seemed to swing the way of the Li Xiaopeng-coached side as the Navy Blues started to flag.

Going a goal behind seemed to give Shandong a shake and they were soon level when Guedes lifted a beautifully crafted free-kick over the Navy Blues' wall past Enaut Zubikarai who stood rooted to his line.

In truth, there was little he could do to prevent a quality finish from the 22-year-old former Palmeiras front man who came into his own in the final ten minutes.

With six minutes to go, Guedes hit Auckland's upright as the New Zealand champions clung on for penalties only to then concede a cruel winner with two minutes left on the clock.

The goal was a hammer blow after Auckland gave so much to the game as they so often have against clubs from professional leagues.

But knowing that won't soften the blow of defeat unless they can somehow pick themselves up in two days' time to face either one of the Hong Kong League XI or the vastly more glamorous challenge of Fernando Torres and Sagan Tosu of the J.League.

Match Result

Tonghai Financial Chinese New Year Cup
Auckland City 1 (Micah Lea'alafa 46')
Shandong Luneng Taishan 2 (Roger Guedes 57', 88')
HT:0-0

Article added: Wednesday 06 February 2019