The sides lead Pool One and Pool Two respectively following first-up wins, Rewa sneaking past Labasa 1-0 and Lautoka going on a goalscoring rampage to beat 10-man Savusavu 7-0 in the last match of the day.
Savusavu were left to try to contain Lautoka without a full team after Mosese Gadai received his marching orders in the 27th minute while Rewa were also a man down for nearly the entire second half of their match due to Posiano Kalisito’s 48th minute dismissal.
Coach Yogen Dutt was pleased with the manner of the victory but is refusing to get carried away by the performance.
“It was a good start to the tournament and the boys did well,” he says.
“But we have other matches remaining so our focus will now turn to that.”
The biggest surprise of the opening round was the strong showing of Tavua in holding defending champions Ba to a scoreless draw.
Suva joined Lautoka and Rewa in posting three points with a 2-0 win over Nadi but lie second on the Pool Two table due to Lautoka’s superior goal difference.
Vodafone Fiji FACT Day One Results
Ba: 0
Tavua: 0
Half-time: 0-0
Caution: Meli CODRO (Ba) 60’
Suva: 2 (Esava SAMUDERE 2′, Joseph NIMARIAU 13′)
Nadi: 0
Half-time: 2-0
Cautions: Isoa RATUVA (Nadi) 42’ , Esava SAMUDERE (Suva) 45’, Emmanuel POILA (Nadi) 53′
Rewa: 1 (Archie WATKINS 52′)
Labasa 0
Half-time: 0-0
Cautions: James NAKA (Rewa) 33’, Posiano KALISITO (Rewa) 22’
Dismissal: Posiano KALISITO (Rewa) 48’
Lautoka: 7 (Arvindra NAIDU 25′, Alvin AVINESH 27′, Keni DOIDOI 32′, Issa SANI 33′, Shameel RAO 43′, Salesh SAMI 48′, Kamal HASSAN 54′)
Savusavu: 0
Caution: Mohd RAHIM (Savusavu) 6’
Dismissal: Mosese GADAI (Savusavu) 27’
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