SUVA – Fijian champions Ba made a dissapointing start to their 2009 O-League campaign according to Coach Yogendra Dutt.

The ‘Men in Black’ did not to live up to the fans expectations with a disappointing performance failing to break the resilient defence of tournament newcomers Koloale FC.

Coach Yogendra Dutt was a furious man after the match saying his side will now face a tough road in its remaining matches with the first -an away fixture to Papua New Guinea on December 13 against Hekari South United FC in Port Moresby.

Dutt said his side needed to do a lot of soul searching before their next match.

Josaia Bukalidi returned from injury after some game time against Nasinu at the recent IDC and showed some signs of progress.

But Ba clearly missed some thrust and sharpness upfront and this could be fulfilled by the injured Maciu Dunadamu.

The former Vodafone Labasa striker is hopeful he will be ready to face Hekari South’s in the match next month.

The second half was a case of Koloale holding on for the draw, with Koloale FC goalkeeper Shadrack Ramoni – by all accounts – the savior of the day for the visitors.

On several occasions the heroic Solomon Islands keeper was required to make notable saves from the menacing Pita Baleitoga, ever-present Malakai Tiwa, and talismanic Ronil Kumar.

Koloale have almost three weeks to prepare for their next O-League fixture, hosting Papua New Guinea qualifiers Hekari Souths United on the 22nd of November.

“We lost a valuable chance get the maximum points. I think we just did not click and could not make it count.

"Definitely it’s going to be tough away from home and we will need to work extra hard now,” Dutt said.

He said his big name players did not perform.

"I just don’t know why they didn’t click on the field," Datt said.

"We had the opportunity to score but failed to find the target. Had that penalty gone in it would have been a different story. However the best penalty takers sometime miss their target."

Koloale FC coach Luke Eroi was happy with the result.

He said drawing against a champion side like Ba was tremendous.

"My boys worked over time after the red card," Eroi said.

"This is our first taste of O League. We will have to work on our finishing. However this is a great result."

Group B – Standings

2 November 2008


 

 PL W D L GF GA PTS GD
1. Ba 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0
2. Koloale FC 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0
3. Hekari Souths United FC 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0