The Northland Tailevu after a 3-1 loss to Tavua in the opening round of the Digicel Senior League bounced back and defeated Lami 4-2 in round two on Sunday at the Fiji FA Academy Ground in Vatuwaqa.
Midfielder Samuela Nasava broke the deadlock just before the halftime mark to take his Northland Tailevu side with a 1-0 lead at the breather.
Aca Bale extended Northland’s lead in the 51st minute while Aniket Chand brought Lami back into the game in the 67th minute.
Fardeen Mohammed came from the bench and two minutes later extended Northland’s lead with a classic goal taking the score to 3-1.
Lami’s replacement striker Mohammed Fazil again scored for his side making it 3-2.
Before Lami could come back into the game Rohan Lal further extended Northland’s lead in the 80th minute making it 4-2.
Northland Tailevu coach Kritesh Prasad was overwhelmed with his team’s performance.
“I am very proud of the way the boys played today. They really played their heart out,”
“It’s good to see the boys came back into the game after our 3-1 loss to Tavua,”
Prasad said there was still a lot of improvement needed.
“We still need to work on some of the weaknesses and we will go back to the drawing board and iron out our mistakes before taking on Rakiraki this weekend,”
Lami coach Shivnesh Chandra said unfortunately we lost the game due to our own mistakes.
“My boys lost concentration and in the game, as we could have avoided some of the goals scored,”
“Well, we will have to really work hard to come back in the next game against Tavua,”
“We also lacked fitness which we will work on this week,” said Chandra
Meanwhile, Rakiraki edged Tavua 1-0 at Penang Sangam School ground in Rakiraki and lead the points table with six points.
In the Vanua Levu Zone, Dreketi and Bua played to a 1-all draw, while Nadogo and Seaqaqa drew 0-0.