Navua coach Saiyad Ali says they allowed the axe fall on their feet in their 2-0 loss to defending champions Suva on the opening day of the 2023 Courts Inter District Championship (IDC) at the HFC Bank Stadium today.
After holding the star-studded Whites goalless in the opening half, Ali admitted their defence let them down in the second half.
“When two good teams play, it’s a matter of which team makes the mistake and we just made one mistake at the back and that’s how the goal came up.”
“My defence was very unfortunate because in the first half, they did play very well. That moment came when we opened our defence and Suva got inside to score.”
“We were playing a very tight game with a defensive approach. We were defensively very strong and I hope that we carry on such a performance tomorrow to beat Nadi.”
The Southerners have two crucial upcoming matches against Nadi and Rewa and Ali said they will come up with a better plan to counter the two teams.
“The result is not in our favor but that doesn’t mean that we didn’t put up a good performance.”
“My boys played very well in the first half but unfortunately, we couldn’t score. But still, when I look at the final minutes of the game, my boys were eager to win.”
“Now the situation has come up that we need to win that game if we want to feature in the semifinal. The two matches are very important and if we win, we have the hope of going forward.”
“The boys are aware of the do-or-die match and we are focused on performing well.”
Navua will take on Nadi in its next match at 1pm tomorrow.
