All sorts of challenges in preparation motivated Labasa players to beat Ba 4-3 and win the inaugural women’s Pillay Garments Champion Versus Champion in Suva today.
Coach Arthur Simmons said they did not have proper training and his message to the team was to pressure play Ba.
“We did not have the luxury of training daily. All our players were scattered around like some were in Suva due to work, some just arrived yesterday who was away overseas and some had been in the village.”
“It wasn’t easy, it was very tough to motivate these girls to come for the training because we had been defeated by Ba and I told them that it wasn’t the end of the world. I told them that it’s the first-ever CVC and we can win it if we have faith in ourselves and that’s what they did.”
“Everybody had the idea of how Ba players. We know they will just attack and they did not defend so we understood their game plan and took advantage of their attacking game.”
Simmons added the win has motivated the side to make a strong start in the Digicel Fiji Super League next weekend.
“It’s a good start and the team is eager to defend their league title. We don’t want to run off our wheels because the league will be tough with seven teams.”
“I’m happy about them and the win but we need to work on our defense because we failed at that part today. I had to keep telling the defenders to fall back because Ba gained possession. It’s just the simple things we have to work on like ball play and control when we start winning.”
