9-Men Labasa
Babasiga Wins CvC Series
Antonio Tuivuna was the toast of his ninemen Labasa side as they sank the hearts of the Lautoka team with a goal that gave them the Pillay’s Garment Champions versus Champions series title with a 1-0 win.
The 5000 crowd that gathered at Churchill Park went home disappointed as their home side could not get a goal.
Fiji Football Association president Rajesh Patel said it right when he told the Lautoka side to “pull up their socks.”
For the home side, there was too much individual play and this let them down throughout the match. With the game tied up at 0-0 at the break, Lautoka would have seemed to have the upper hand after Ilisoni Logaivau was red-carded for a second bookable offence. Then 20 minutes later, Ashnil Raju was also given his marching orders in the same manner. However, Labasa during one of their sporadic attacks see-sawed the ball across the Lautoka goalmouth and left Tuivuna with a clean nod past goalkeeper Beniamino Mateinaqara. Lautoka missed midfield general Zibraaz Sahib who came on late in the match with an injured thigh. For Lautoka, the OFC championships is no amateur tournament and they need to sharply improve. Whilst individual play was the name of their game, strikers Christopher Wasasala and Siotama Kubu failed to capitalise on their chances. Taniela Waqa was the toast of the Labasa defence as he guided his players around to thwart all of Lautoka’s attacks.