Koloale and Rendova Devon booked their spots in the last four with wins over defending champions Marist and Makuru respectively.
But the other quarter-final matches could not be played after concerns the action would extend into the night. Games can’t go ahead at Honiara’s Lawson Tama Stadium once the light has faded due to problems with the power supply.
The clash between Soloso and Solomon Warriors has therefore been moved to late morning today. The KOSSA versus Northern United match will take place immediately after at 1pm.
Rendova will play the winner of the earlier kick off in Friday’s semi-finals while Koloale will meet the victor from the latter.
Koloale’s place in the semis is no surprise – they boast star strikers Benjamin Totori and Henry Fa’arodo, as well as a batch of promising youngsters – but Rendova’s success is far more of an eyebrow raiser.
They beat the heavily-fancied Makuru 2-1 in a result that is likely to go down as one of the biggest upsets in the history of club football in the Solomons.
Most onlookers were expecting Makuru to use the meeting as a training run for their semi-final. But any hopes the players had of an easy game were dashed as Rendova produced a great display to defeat the former O-League and Honiara Football Association league leaders 2-1.
Makuru went into the match without influential player George Lui, suspended after getting a red card in the group game against South Central Gold.
But they made light of his absence by taking the lead in less than a minute. Dennis Ifunaoa sent in a perfectly-floated cross which the experienced George Afia hammered home with a header.
Makuru had further chances to increase their advantage before half-time but could not capitalise and the teams went into the sheds at 1-0.
The real excitement started in the second half. Rendova equalised just a few minutes after the restart when Alban Pita, who had already caused plenty of problems for the Makuru defence, headed in a cross from Thomas Aba.
Both sides then pressed for a winner but the deadlock could not be broken and the match went into extra-time.
The stage was set for a Rendova player to make a name for himself and it was Fredy Kini who put his hand up, firing home a spot kick after Leslie Leo had fouled Luke Kapitana.
The goal arrived in just the second minute of extra-time and Rendova still had plenty of defending to do. But they held on for a famous victory and will attempt to repeat the feat tomorrow in their semi-final.
The other quarter-final will be remembered as the coming of age of several young players from both teams, namely Koloale’s Ian Paia, Francis Lafai and Steve Saru, and Marist’s Tutizama Tanito, Ben Hibiscus and Michael Oiramo.
All had strong games as Koloale came back from a goal down at half-time to win 3-1.
Marist had the better of the early stages after taking the lead from the penalty spot within a minute of kick off. Michael Misitana saw his shot blocked but the ball fell kindly to team mate Bentley Nalangu, who was on hand to make sure his side made the most of the opportunity.
Koloale came out for the second half determined to wrestle the game away from their opponents and did just that with goals to Fa’arodo, Paia and Totori. The Waitakere United striker’s effort was one of the best in the competition so far – his brilliant dribbling took the 24-year-old past three Marist defenders before he rounded things off inside the 18-yard box.
The first semi-final on Friday will be played at 11am while the second will kick off at 1pm. The grand final will be played on Saturday at 1pm, just after the third and fourth play-off.
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