BY ROMULUS HUTA
WESTERN Turtles bagged its first three points in the under-19 category of the Youth Solomon Cup currently underway in Honiara.
This follows their narrow 3-2 win over Central Shields in the second encounter of day one competition yesterday at Lawson Tama Stadium.
A stunning display by the Westernese playmaker in the form of young Junior David saw him made three assists to set up Nashville Hite’s two goals coupled with the late winner by Andrew Tiazi.
Central Shields’ two goals came from Jordan Ekovern and Ben Suiga.
Shields dominated play from start and kept the Turtles holding them halfway at the center circle.
After several minutes defending the earlier continuous onslaught from Shields, Turtles finally found a way past the Shields defense to break free when Hite set up an unmarked Tiazi, who carelessly hit off target infront of an unguarded goal.
Then Turtles began to create hosts of chances but squandered them all with Tiazi, David and Hite firing off target in numerous occasions.
Toward the end of the first half, a pass from David found Hite who made no mistake putting the ball to the back of the net to get Turtles leading 1-0.
Quickly regrouped from the goal deficit, Shields equalized through Ekovern.
In the dying minutes of the first half, a smart drive through from the left side into the box by David proved handful for Shields defense to handle.
With no one putting pressure on him, David sends across a pass to an awaiting Hite, who was left unmarked in the six yard to slot home Turtles second goal and get his team back into the driver’s seat for the second time leading 2-1 at the break.
The second half resumed and Shields quickly equalized through Ben Suiga.
Toward the dying minutes, a superb lobbed pass into the box from David found Tiazi’s head who made no mistake this time to find the back of the net for his side’s winner after having squandered several goal scoring opportunities since the first half.
Shields attempted a late surge toward the breather but could not do much as Turtles held on to win 3-2 to claim vital maximum points.
Turtles coach Alick Collin said their victory was a hard fought one.
“I must congratulate my boys for the win.
“My boys are new to this playing surface at Lawson Tama and that took toll on them during the entire game.
“Now we are looking forward to the second match.”
Shields coach Samani Ramo said they have problems in the midfield during the entire game and that costed them.
“We will work on strengthening the weak areas before going into the next match.”
Turtles second match is against Renbel Chiefs at 1pm this afternoon while Shields will play Makira/Ulawa at 4pm in the final encounter of the day.
