NEWCOMERS in the Extra Premier League, Tavua FC, know all too well the odds stacked against them as they venture into round two of competition today against Labasa.
The team faces the Babasiga Lions away from home and its senior vice-president Hirendra Kumar understands the formidable level of play their rivals will display against them.
“For the Labasa team, I know they will be playing in their home ground and with their crowd support but the Tavua team will give them the best of their performance,” Kumar stressed.
While his football team focuses on clinching their first NPL victory following a 0-3 defeat by Nadi in round one last week, he attributed administrative matters as a key factor in their loss.
“For Nadi, it was our first game and since we did our election this year, most of the officers are very new,” Kumar explained.
“What happened actually, there was some administration problem and four of our good players had missed out and were not registered.”
“That was one of the main concerns for our loss against Nadi but nevertheless, we have registered all those players now and they are prepared to take on Labasa.”
With these issues rectified ahead of their round two clash today, he elaborated on the team’s preparations.
“For Tavua, they are newcomers in the Super Premier Division. They are preparing well and they are guided by our head coach Shawal (Prasad) who has been in our coaching team for our youth teams,” Kumar said.
“And apart from that, he is assisted by our coaching panel which consists of (technical director) Nazeel Ali and George Ravula (discipline, strength and conditioning coach).”
The match against Labasa kicks off at 1.30pm at Subrail Park this afternoon. In other round two matches starting at 3pm tomorrow, Navua battles Nasinu at the Uprising Sports Complex, Nadi hosts Suva at King Charles Park while Ba takes on Nadroga at the Fiji FA Academy Ground in Ba.
The Rewa v Lautoka match has been postponed to a later date as Rewa has more than five players in the national team which travels to New Zealand today.
