Central Shields have secured a spot in the grand finals of the Telekom Solomon Cup tournament for the first time ever after winning their semi final against Western Turtles yesterday.
Shields and Turtles battled it out for 120 minutes before heading into the penalty shootout for Central Shields to come out victorious with a 4-1 win.
Shields coach, Tome Kiki thanked his players for their efforts against a strong Turtles side.
“I am very happy, since this is a semi final, a stage in a competition that is very tough.
“Our aim was to win this game despite whatever situation and the players put in everything they had and it paid off well.
“Turtles were very tough but we maintained patience despite trailing by a goal and maintained our pace.
“I would like to thank Alick Wickham and his team for giving us a good match.
“We will now focus for our grand final match on Saturday,” Kiki said.
The Shields got off to a positive start with the opening goal; however the equalizer came shortly after followed by Turtles’ second goal before half time.
Shields showed a never back down attitude in the second half as they came banging on the door step for the Turtles goal mouth in several occasions.
Their efforts paid off with an equalizer when a penalty was award for a foul in the box just minutes before full time.
Both teams went into 30 minutes extra time yet neither could find the back of the net for the winner, forcing them to go into penalty shootout.
Shields scored four goals while Turtles managed only one having missed two chances.
Western Turtles Coach, Alick Wickham was not so impressed however stated it is a game despite whatever result and vowed to finish on a high in the third and fourth playoff.
“It’s hard to accept defeat because we aim to win but the result did not come in our favor.
“We have to accept it because it’s a game one has to lose and other has to win.
“It was an evenly contested match but in the second half my players did not really play according to the game plan we had.
“It’s over and we need to focus for our final match on Friday,” he said.
Western Turtles will play the loser of today’s semi final.
By CARLOS ARUAFU
