Labasa beats Nasinu

THE Labasa football side continued its fine form after the Fiji FACT defeating Nasinu 2-1 in the Digicel Premier League at the Uprising Sports Complex ground on Saturday night.

It did not come easy for the Babasiga Lions as they had to come back from a goal down to secure the win and much needed three points.

Clarence Hussain gave Nasinu a dream start when he finished off a beautiful move on the right flank by Jonetani Buksh in the 35th minute.

Buksh beat a couple of Labasa defenders and had the opportunity to shoot from an acute angle but placed the ball neatly to a better positioned Hussain, who made no mistakes from 18 yards out.

Nasinu led 1-nil at halftime.

Labasa coach Ravneel Pratap made some technical changes at the start of the second spell sending in Ashneel Raju and Taniela Waqa.

Raju came in with a cross from a corner kick which Siotame Kubu headed onto the cross bar.

It was Waqa who brought Labasa back into the game when his low free kick from nearly 30 yards out was deflected by the Nasinu defence in the 79th minute.

Christopher Wasasala completed the comeback when he slotted in a penalty in the 83rd minute after a handball by Nasoni Mereke inside his own penalty box.

Pratap was pleased with the win which was Labasa’s first at the Uprising Sports Complex ground.

“Nasinu came out and played well and we had to settle ourselves. Very pleased with the win and this is something we wanted to start the second round with on a high,” Pratap said.

Nasinu coach Nathan Shivam said it was a game of two halves.

“Unfortunately the game is not only 45 minutes, but 90 minutes. We played well in the second spell, but lost momentum in the second half,” Shivam said.

The win puts Labasa on 11 points while Nasinu remains at the bottom of the standings with seven points.

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