Henderson Eels suffer third consecutive loss
By Taromane Martin
HENDERSON Eels futsal team yesterday suffered another harrowing defeat at the hands of the young U-17 Futsal Solympic side at the Multipurpose Hall yesterday.
They were beaten 9-2 to see them suffer their third consecutive loss in the 2018 Solomon Islands Ports Authority national futsal league.
Eels trailed the national U-17 side 4-1 in the first half, a gaol each from Ronaldo Cromwell, Calvin Do’oro and a double by the impressive Raphael Lea’i giving the Futsal Solympics the lead.
Lea’i netted two more goals in the second half while Cromwell, Junior Mana, Do’oro and Frankster Rukumana back from injury scored a goal each to dry up Eels defence.
Harry T pulled a goal back for Eels in the second half to compliment James Do’oro first half goal.
Henderson Eels Head Coach Victor Waia was disappointed with the result but is pleased with the improvement and progress shown by his boys.
“This year there a lot of new players joining the club apart from our goal keeper who was part of our team last year for the SIFF futsal top eight challenge,” he told SunSPORTS yesterday.
“For us it will take a bit more time to get the boys into the rhythm of futsal. The national U-17 side is a good team. They beat us today because their fitness level is above ours.
“Despite today’s result I really appreciate the boys for their performance today. Our first goal was well executed because they stuck to our game plan.
“Although these boys are still new to futsal I though our counter attacking has improved today, however, it is our defence which still needs a lot of work in order to cope with the pace of the other much fitter teams.
“But we’ll work on it and I see my main task for our remaining matches is to get the boys to fully understand playing futsal,” he adds.
The win yesterday sees the national U-17 futsal team jump into first position on the competition table with 12 points after four matches played while Henderson Eels are still without a point after three matches played.
