Solomon Warriors 2 – Koloale 1

Koloale have been sent back to the drawing boards for their O-League clash this weekend after they were defeated 2 – 1 by a confident and industrious Solomon Warriors side in the Telekom S-League at Lawson Tama today.

Solomon Warriors A goalless first half transpired despite the intentions of both teams being expressed clearly with the pace of the game. Koloale spent more time attacking but they could not get the goals they were looking for against a resolute Solomon Warriors defence line. The absence of Joses Nawo and Henry Fa’arodo Jnr., who were both serving suspension from the last season, was clear as the Koloale midfield failed to give Benjamin Totori and Ian Paia enough balls past the halfway mark. Totori did manage to get off two promising shots but Solomon Warriors’ new goalkeeper Silas Seda was up to the task on both occasions. Solomon Warriors celebrated the return of Judd Molea and the inclusion of Batram Suri in their coaching staff by playing a more open style of football. Pace was the key feature of their game and new recruits Micah Lea’alafa and Jerry Donga both settled into exchanging quick passes to get through Koloale. Three times in the first half they threatened to score but were denied by excellent goalkeeping from Eddie Ramo, who stood in for Shadrack Ramoni. Lea’alafa hit his first shot of the match well but Ramo picked it up easily and did the same with Molea’s 25 yard free kick. Donga provided another fine moment for Solomon Warriors in the first half when he broke free on the left but his shot was well covered by Ramo. Ten minutes after coming back from the halftime break Solomon Warriors took the lead as Ifunaoa beat Leonard Olea to a long pass and fended off his much bigger opponent before beating Ramo with a low shot to the far post. Three minutes later a rather hopeful cross from Lea’alafa on the touch line turned into a stunning goal when Ramo misjudged the trajectory and the ball sailed into the back of the net. The goal is already claiming fame as the top one so far in the season. Despite being down by 2 to nothing Koloale kept their heads up and busied the Solomon Warriors defenders with threatening runs. One such run provided the equaliser for Koloale as Totori raced into the Solomon Warriors penalty area past 3 defenders before turning the shot in. The ball did deflect off the boot of one of the defenders but Totori was clear about his claim to the goal. Totori’s goal, however, was Koloale’s only reply to their opponents and the final whistle could not come sooner for the Solomon Warriors faithful who dominated the crowd at Lawson Tama stadium. Solomon Warriors assistant coach, Batram Suri, said that it was good to win but acknowledged that Koloale were a tough side. “We are pleased with this win today. It is always good to win in your first match because it builds confidence for the players, management and the fans. We knew that Koloale is a top class team with good players so we worked extra hard for this game and we welcome this result,” Suri says. Koloale will play Auckland City this weekend in their first O-League match of the season so the match had extra value for them in terms of their preparations. Their next Telekom S-League match is against Malaita Kingz on Saturday 5th November. Solomon Warriors will play Western United in their next match scheduled for 2:00pm on Sunday 6th November.

Source from SIFF