Solomon Islands Mataks FC lose second match as New Caledonia’s AS PTT thrill home crowd with 4-3 victory in second edition of OFC Futsal Men’s Champions League
SOLOMON Islands Mataks FC was given a narrow defeat by hosts AS PTT, losing the second edition of the OFC Men’s Champions League in New Caledonia last night.
AS PTT thrilled a near-capacity home crowd with a 4-3 win over Mataks FC to win the second edition.
ASPTT opened the scoreline with the first goal of the match and dominated almost the first half of the game. After a time out call from Coach Lafai, the boys re-organized and Elis Mana managed to score the first goal for Mataks FC.
Robert Freddy Forrest should have restored the home side’s lead four minutes before the break, but he fired over the bar from an ideal scoring position. The two sides went to the break level.
ASPTT then scored their second goal and Mataks FC again equalized it for the second time after putting much pressure on the ASPTT side. This time, the goal was from Clifford Misitana by a stunning free kick shot that went under the defence and past the ASPTT goal keeper.
It was then that ASPTT punished the Mataks FC side for not having a goal keeper who was red-carded and also for not making use of their many chances with their third and fourth goal.
Billy Afi managed to find his way into the back of the net scoring the third goal at just 13 minutes of time remaining.
Mataks FC had plenty of possession early on but didn’t really test Matthieu Wassin in the AS PTT goal.
Christ Pei scored the goal of the tournament with just over four minutes remaining, a stunning bicycle kick to fired AS PTT 3-2 in front and seconds later with Mataks FC removing their keeper to play an extra man, Jymaẽl Upa tapped in to secure the win.
When the final whistle blew, ASPTT celebrated victory in front of the cheering home crowd.
Speaking after the match, Mataks FC Coach Lafai said he was still happy with his boys because it was a game and one team has to win and one has to lose.
He also acknowledged that his boys were not able to make use of their many chances, adding that they are being punished for that.
“My boys did not manage to make use of their many chances but I am still happy with them for being consistent throughout the whole game,” Coach Lafai added.
By IAN LADDS OSO
