Tailevu Naitasiri has opted to enter next week’s Courts Inter District Championship (IDC) in Suva with an underdogs tag.
After finishing seventh in the Digicel Fiji Premier League, the side is drawn in Group A of the Super Premier Division with League and Fiji FACT champions Lautoka, BOG winners Labasa and traditional giants Ba.
Head coach Priyant Mannu said while they have played all three teams in the League and registered impressive results, the men in sky-blue jersey will not underestimate their opponents in the tournament as they believe anything is possible.
“Being seen as underdogs is an advantage because all the teams will think it’s easy to play against us and hopefully we’ll surprise them.”
“The team system stays the same, but we hope the opponents can’t identify certain players and the way we play and how we want to play. That will count a lot in our favour if we display that as we did in the league this year.”
“For Labasa and Lautoka, we drew and lost each match to them while we drew and defeated Ba in one match each in the league this year but we are not expecting the same performance from them in the IDC.”
T/Naitasiri has never won the IDC title although the team last featured in the 1974 final and lost 1-0 to Nadi but Mannu said they are hopeful to make it into the semis this year.
“What happened in the BOG is the past. We are done with that. We will leave that behind and focus on what is next for us.”
“IDC is a big tournament and every team will come up raring so we have to be the best to beat the best. Our players have never tasted the IDC victory but we want to have confidence within ourselves that we could reach the semifinal stage which will be a big thing for us or probably try to end the drought.”
Meanwhile, the side is utilising its local league matches as a build-up for the tournament which will be played from 10-15 at the HFC Bank Stadium.
