PARADISE Seafood Supplies Lautoka secured a hard-fought 2-1 over Sigatoka Electric Nadroga in their Extra Battle of the Giants match yesterday but that came at the expense of some of their players suffering injuries.
Key player Manasa Nawakula had to be taken off the field in a stretcher after a relentless attacking play that saw him run into the post of Nadroga’s goal.
Two other players had to be attended to by the tournament’s medical team during the match.
However, despite their injury worries, the team managed to come away with the three points thanks to a brace by Mohammed Shazil Ali in the first half and the winner during injury time.
Ali, who was later named the Extra Player of the Match, pointed out that the number of injuries they had from the first match was a worry for the defending champion.
When asked if they had enough players to cover for the injuries Ali said, “I don’t think so. We’ve only got a limited bench, but I think we have enough players. The physio and staff will look into it and set the team accordingly, depending on how the players recover.”
Whatever the outcome of the injuries is, Ali is still confident in the capabilities of the other players.
“All the players are equally good, so I don’t think it will have much of an impact.”
Embracing the defending champion tag, Ali said there is little to no pressure at all.
“The pressure is there, but a lot of our boys have played in many tournaments, so it’s not too much. We’ll just regroup and go again, especially with the younger players coming in.”
Ali also pointed out how Nadroga pushed them to their limit in yesterday’s match.
Nadroga’s lone goal was scored by replacement player Salimone Ravonokula.
Lautoka will battle Ba in its second ground match at 3pm today while Nadroga will battle Labasa at 5pm at Subrail Park in Labasa.
