The match was scheduled to help the Bonitos’ complete their preparations for the upcoming Pacific Games, which take place in New Caledonia from August 27 to September 9, and coach Jacob Moli would have hoped for a good performance and a morale-boosting victory.
But the Koloale players had clearly not read Moli’s script and stunned the national side with the opening goal after just 10 minutes. There appeared to be no danger when Francis Lafai picked the ball up 30 yards out but he caught goalkeeper Shadrack Ramoni off guard with a spectacular effort that curled in at the far post.
The Bonitos tried to regroup and muster something convincing in attack but found the Koloale defence in a determined frame of mind. And their task was made even tougher midway through the half when national U-20 player Augustine Samani found himself in the right position from a partially-cleared corner kick.
The ball sat up perfectly to be struck and Samani obliged with a powerful low strike Ramoni could do little about.
Determined to avoid the embarrassment of losing to a club side, the Bonitos took control of the second half and created a string of chances but could not find a way past goalkeeper Eddie Ramo. They were given a numerical advantage after Gabriel Eke received his marching orders for a foul on Jeffrey Bule and finally converted their dominance into a goal when Joses Nawo broke down the right and crossed for substitute Ian Paia to finish past Ramoni.
Several more opportunities arrived in the dying minutes but Koloale held on to post a memorable win.
Coach Peter Eke was ecstatic and believes the performance is a good sign as Koloale prepare for the next edition of the O-League, which kicks off in late October.
“I am proud of the players for their achievement,” he said. “Most of the boys are not frontline players but they have been together for a while now and that has helped us play well today.”
Eke thinks the loss will not be too significant of a setback for the Bonitos in terms of their Games preparation but feels their combinations and link-up play need to be worked on.
“There is a lot of potential in the national side but they still need to fall into a team unit. I don’t think that happened today but a couple more friendly matches will certainly work in their favour.”
Opposing coach Moli was philosophical about the loss and says it has given him plenty to think about ahead of the Games.
“Friendly matches serve an important purpose in shaping the final team and our loss today means we will have to make adjustments in our game plan and line-up. Some of our players failed to assume their roles in the overall plan and we need to work harder on this,” he said.
“But there are positives we can gather from this match, especially regarding how our changes in the second half improved our performance. Unfortunately, our finishing was not good enough and that cost us the game.”
The Bonitos leave for New Caledonia next week and the team management hope to play several more friendly matches prior to their departure.
For more on Solomon Islands football go to www.siff.com.sb

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