Ba ended Suva’s 4-year reign in the Futsal Inter District Championship on Sunday after beating the favorites 7-6 in a thrilling final at the Vodafone Arena.
The return of football reps Filipe Baravilala and Azariah Soromon gave Suva an added edge heading into the final.
Early in the final, match official Amitesh Bihari denied an Etonia Dogalau goal to Ba after he made a foul on his way to score.
Vineet Nadan opened the account for Suva in the fourth minute after finding Ba goalie and Captain Ravinesh Singh out of his line.
A minute later, Ba coach Deepesh Prasad made a technical change putting Ruel Grayven in place of Amena Bolaitamana who celebrates his birthday tomorrow.
Grayven’s inclusion brought in huge momentum and spark as his cross found an unmarked Dogalau, who this time blasted the ball into the net without any mistake.
Sunny Deol, who made his return from a match suspension doubled the lead for Suva after following through a Rajneel Singh pass in the 10th minute.
Frequent fouls by Suva players on Ba’s Grayven awarded the Men-in-Black a penalty which super sub Hussaini Khan took and hit the roof of the net in the 12th minute.
Just seconds later, Grayven extended the lead for Ba after beating two Suva defenders and powering in a bullet show which gave goalie Shameet Kumar no chance at all.
Suva gave away another penalty to Ba which Dogalau took and was pushed away by Kumar but Dogalau pounced on the ball and scored before Azariah Soromon leveled the scores with his powerful shot which Ba’s keeper failed to stop.
A minute later, the match official flashed a yellow card to Ba’s Bolaitamana for foul play.
Suva received a penalty in the dying minutes of the first spell after Ba’s Ravinesh Chand deliberately pushed Singh on the court.
Shahil Dave took the penalty without any hesitation and leveled the scores 4-4 at halftime.
Both teams tussled hard in the second stanza and again it was Ba that struck first through Bolaitamana, who kicked the ball right into the corner of the net which Kumar failed to reach.
A blunder in the Suva midfield saw Ravinesh Chand sneak the ball away and pulled the trigger right in front of the Suva goalmouth in the 23rd minute bringing more tension into the match.
It was Nadan and Dave, who brought Suva back into the match scoring back-to-back goals after a one-on-one with Filipe Baravilala to level the score at 6-6 in the 34th minute.
In the final minute of play, Dogalau brought the crowd on their feet as he rifled a long-range shot directly into an empty Suva goalmouth as their tactical for power play with the goalkeeper playing forward failed.
The teams:
Ba– Raviesh Singh (GK) (C), Ravinesh Chand, Etonia Dogalau, Christopher Kumar, Amena Bolaitamana, Zaim Khan, Aisea Codro, Shiyaz Ali, Krishneel Kumar, Husaaini Khan, Ruel Grayven, Aiyush Kumar, Kartik Sami.
Suva- Shameet Kumar (GK), Shahil Dave, Deepal Singh (C), Vineet Nadan, Krishneel Singh, Sunny Deol, Azariah Soromon, Kaliova Tivulu, Rajneel Singh, Filipe Baravilala, Suraj Chand, Akitesh Kumar, Shivnal Prasad.
