Baker’s Fresh Biscuit Crackers Lautoka FC will be out to end its 20-year drought of winning the 2022 Digicel Fiji FACT at Lawaqa Park in Sigatoka.
Lautoka will face defending champions Ram’s Cleaning Services/ All Freight Logistics Suva FC in the second semi-final on Saturday at 5 pm.
The Blues reigned supreme in the 2000 Fiji FACT which was hosted in Nadi. The Sugar City boys accounted for Nadroga in an all exciting final 2-0 to claim the title.
In 2002 Fiji FACT Lautoka performed above expectations in the tournament and sent big guns packing to make the final which it eventually won 3-2 in the penalty shoot-out over another surprise finalist, Nasinu who entered the tournament as underdogs and the last time they featured in the final was in 2009 against Navua which they lost 1-2 at the ANZ Stadium in Suva.
The Anginesh Prasad coached side are the runners up from group A after beating All in One Builders Nadi FC 2-1, winning against 4R Electrical Labasa FC 2-1, and defeating Glamada Investment Rewa FC 1-0 but they lost 1-2 against Navua.
Prasad said the loss against Navua would not diminish the morale of the team.
“The boys knew our plan to give some game time to our youth players and they were happy with it and the result against Navua will not hinder us in the semi-final against Suva,”
‘We will go back and plan our recovery session before we start working on our game plan to counter Suva,”
‘Suva is a good side with some experienced players and they are unbeaten this season but we will do our best to beat them and win the title this year,”
“I have faith in my players and they will do the job,” said Prasad
“We played four hard 90 minutes of football which was not easy but takes a lot of toll on the players so we will go access the injuries of our plans and recover and work on our mistakes before coming into the final on Saturday,”
“It’s going to be physical football so we work out our plan to counter them out,” said Prasad
He urged Lautoka fans to come out in numbers and support the team at Lawaqa Park in Sigatoka on Saturday.