Town youngster Monty Patterson won his first full cap as New Zealand opened their Oceania Nations Cup campaign with a 3-1 victory over Fiji in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
Patterson started in midfield and played the first 65 minutes. Former Town loanees Chris Wood and Rory Fallon were amongst the scorers for the All Whites.
The 19-year-old, who is yet to make a senior appearance for the Blues, returned to action for Town’s U21s in the closing weeks of the season having spent seven months out with a serious ankle injury.
New Zealand next face Vanuatu on Tuesday before completing their group matches against the Solomon Islands on Saturday 4th June with all their games in Port Moresby.
The tournament doubles up as the second round of qualifying for the 2018 World Cup, while the winner will represent the Oceania Football Confederation at the 2017 Confederations Cup, which like the World Cup will be in Russia.
Good win for us in our first game of the tournament . Buzzing to have made my debut as well ðŸ™ðŸ¼ #allwhites pic.twitter.com/ief1Fx0Z7T– Monty Patterson (@PattersonMonty) May 28, 2016
All Whites: Stefan Marinovic, Kip Colvey, Themi Tzimopoulos, Bill Tuiloma, Chris Wood, Luka Prelevic, Monty Patterson (Michael McGlinchey 65) Rory Fallon (Logan Rogerson 76), Louis Fenton (Thomas Doyle 84), Luke Adams, Sam Brotherton.