Nadi coach Kamal Swamy revealed that a change in their game structure resulted in a 2-2 draw against Rewa in their first match of the 2023 Courts Inter District Championship (IDC) at the HFC Bank Stadium in Suva today.
“We decided to work on formations and structure today. We had a good structure today but we still have to work as per our formation.”
“My message was to not allow Rewa into our territory and play our football. We had to mark their players when we were defending without the ball and I advised them to defend as a team. The whole team defended well as we moved forward trying to keep the ball in our favor.”
“We focused more on retaining compactness effectively in the defensive phases during the attacking transition which pressured Rewa and they opened space for us to get in and score.”
“We decided to take shots at the goal which we did and scored.”
Swamy, while acknowledging his players for putting up a good show and displaying their fighting spirit, added that another tactical move was transitioning senior players up front late in the second half.
“The boys played their hearts out although we were down by 2-1. We managed to get the equaliser in the injury time.”
“In the past, most of the time in the last 15-20 minutes, Nadi has lost but today they kept on trying. The key factor was that our senior players moved in front to boost the confidence of the young players.”
“The most important thing we’ve got to do against Navua is to contain them in the match throughout.”
Nadi will face last year’s finalist Navua in their next match at 1pm tomorrow.
