Giants 4 Rise
The INKK Mobile Battle of the Giants tournament will have a new champion after Rewa exited following Suva’s 2-0 win over Nadi at Churchill Park yesterday.
The Ravinesh Singh-captained capital city side who topped Pool A will meet up with Ba in the first semifinal at 2pm this Saturday at the same venue.
Ba topped Pool B with their greater goal difference over Labasa. Labasa will meet Nadi in the second semifinal at 4pm on Saturday.
The final will be played on Sunday at 3pm.
Lautoka Win Not Enough
Design Engineering Lautoka had themselves to blame for missed opportunities in their final pool match against neighbours Ba in which they won 2-0.
The side squandered countless opportunities which had haunted them all weekend.
Ba was happy to defend for most of the game as they knew Lautoka needed more than four goals to get them out.
Those goals eluded Lautoka with the sitters they missed throughout the match.
WHAT HAPPENED
Lautoka were denied a penalty in this spell with a clear handball inside the penalty area by Avinesh Swamy. But referee Kavitesh Behari issued a yellow card to Blues striker Osea Vakatalesau for protesting.The half ended in a scoreless draw.
HALFTIME
In the 51st minute Lautoka nudged ahead when a poor clearance from the Ba defence saw Vakatalesau send a cross which was not gathered by Ba goalkeeper Josaia Ratu.
Dave Radrigai was on hand to tap the ball in for Lautoka to lead 1-0. Benjamin Totori scored Lautoka’s second but was not enough to keep his side in.
Lautoka tried as they might to score more goals but their finishing let them down and was let down for the midfield and backs who had worked tirelessly throughout.
COMMENTS
Ba team manager Arvind Singh said; “We are happy with what has been achieved and will come back stronger this weekend.”
We apologised to the fans and promise to come back better in the Courts Inter-District Championship Anginesh Prasad Lautoka Assistant Coach