A second half comeback from Nadi saw them upset a star-studded Lami outfit 5-3 and create the biggest upset on Day 2 of the Futsal Extra Supermarket Inter-District Championship at the Vodafone Arena in Suva.
The win to Nadi see’s Lami’s chances of advancing closer to impossible.
Bruce Hughes continued his form with a goal to put Lami up early with nine minutes in.
Nadi’s Mohammed Shalmeen was shown a yellow card by referee Amitesh Behari for a foul inside the box, Hughes failed to capitalise with the resulting penalty missing a crucial chance to double their lead with 14 minutes gone.
Shalmeen however, seemed to be Nadi’s greatest weapon, but multiple chances went to waste.
All went bad to worse for the westerners when a defensive blunder allowed young forward Nikil Chand to find the mark and put Lami up 2-0 just before the midway buzzer.
Nadi replacement Sanjit Kumar was given a yellow card before he even stepped on the court for a changeover technicality.
Shalmeen continued to attack tirelessly for Nadi but nothing was working.
Suddenly Nadi’s luck changed.
The Jetsetters got a break and Shafeem Buksh finally put them on the scoreboard with 14 minutes left on the clock.
Nadi equalised through Shaheel Valentine a minute later stunning the Lami line setting up an exciting finish with now 28 minutes of the match gone.
Buksh would put them infront on 31 minutes as he dribbled through the yellow defence to strike past goalkeepet Anas Nabi for a second time.
Power play from Lami got them level when a cross from Navinesh Kumar found Ronish Singh clear to score.
Goalscorer Singh soon after copped a yellow card for a stern challenge of his own.
The green machine retook the lead with just over three minutes to go when tall timber substitute Mohammed Ayman flat-footed reserve goalie Nemesh Ram to score.
Youngster Valentine got his double to seal the win on the breath of fulltime.
The teams:
Nadi– Mohammer Rahman, Shafeem Buksh, Mohammed Shalmeen, Mohammed Arian, William Valentine Substitutions: Rovil Kumar, Rodrick Chand, Sanjit Kumar, Wayne Bennett, Mohammed Kafoa, Shaheel Valentine, Arav Nadan, Wallace Bali, Mohammed Ayman.
Lami– Anas Nabi, Aman Naidu, Ronish Singh, Manasa Levaci, Nikil Chand Substitutions: Nemesh Ram, Navinesh Kumar, Bruce Hughes, Asis Chand, Arnil Singh, Navneet Chand, Ronish Singh, Ravneel Pal, Vinal Kumar.
