Solympics back on top

By Taromane Martin

Koloale’s Albert Wetney tries to skip past Raphael Lea’i

FUTSAL Solympics are back on top of the 2018 Solomon Islands Ports Authority (SIPA) national futsal league after defeating Koloale at the Multipurpose Hall.

The national U-17 futsal team defeated Koloale 5-2 to pick up their seventh win and see them leading with 21 points in the national futsal league.

First half goals from Raphael Leai and a double from Leon Kofana saw the Stanley Puirana side leading Koloale 3-0 at the break.

Frankster Rukumana extended his sides lead with a header in the second half but saw Koloale pulling a goal back to trail 4-1.

Futsal Solympics Team Captain Junior Mana made it 5-1 after nut-megging Koloale goal keeper. Koloale had chances to level the scores but could not penetrate the national U-17 defence led by Leon Kofana.

Koloale managed to score their second goal in the final two minutes of the game but could not find enough spirit to fight back in the final seconds of the game.

Koloale Head Coach Junior Corey accepted the defeat saying their opponents were much more prepared and was much fitter.

“There’s not a lot to say. What I can only say is that the National U-17s have been in training for quite some time now.

“They are well prepared unlike our team which has been facing a lot of problems in training because of the lack of facilities.

“However, despite the problems I’m pleased the boys made it hard for the national U-17s today. I thought we should have won with the experience in the squad.

“But like I said we have not been getting enough training time due to the lack of training facilities. But that does not mean we are giving up.

“We’ll continue to work on areas that need to be improved for our remaining matches,” Corey said.

Solympics Head Coach Stanley Puirana was pleased with the three points but stressed his players mental fitness still needs improvement.

“The boys are improving a lot. Last week we’ve been working on our defence and today the boys understand it.

“But there are areas we still need to improve on such as their mindset and decision making. Physically they are okay but the mental fitness is what we’ll need to improve on.

“Yes we have three months left and is still a long time for our management to work on this area.

“It’s not only me who is working with the team. We have an experienced management whom we are always working together to help the players improve on these areas mentioned,” he said.

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