Malampa Revivors

The pressure was on Malampa as they needed a win to advance in the second match of the day after the Henderson Eels had come from behind to edge Lautoka 3-2 in the earlier fixture during a thrilling final day of group play.

Henderson Eels 3-2 Lautoka FC 

The Henderson Eels were about nine minutes away from elimination before late goals to Raphael Le’ai and Joses Nawo helped them beat Fiji’s Lautoka 3-2.

The Vanuatu-based team had a strong start in the first five minutes as they scored their opening goal in the fifth minute through Edwin Bai.

The visitors regrouped and scored their equaliser in the 42nd minute through Joses Navo.

The score was locked at 1-all for both the teams at halftime.

At the start of the second half, Henderson Eels lifted intensity and enjoyed most possessions only to see Navo striking in their second goal to give them a 2-0 lead.

This was following their 1-1 draw against Lautoka FC last Saturday.

The Vanuatu based team will take on Solomon Islands club the Henderson Eels after forward Andre Batick was shown a red card and will be suspended.

The fans in Luganville came out in droves to the Luganville Soccer City Stadium to support the hometown Revivors and they will ride that wave of support against the Eels.

In the first match today, Fiji’s Lautoka will take on Papua New Guinea’s Lae City FC.

Line ups;

Western United’s rollicking 5-3 win over Papua New Guinea’s Lae City Dwellers earlier in the day drew them level with Auckland on points meaning the Navy Blues needed a point to confirm their place in the final four ahead of the Solomon Islands champions.

But the eight-time confederation champions never looked under threat, scoring early and never looking back en route to posting the biggest winning margin in the champions league era of Oceania club competition.

Malampa Revivors opened with a significantly stronger performance in their 1pm fixture against Western United, forcing the speedy Solomons to fight to the final whistle for the 2-1 win.

Western earned an early lead when Joses Nawo sent in an impressive shot from the right edge of the 18-yard box in the 25th minute but the Ni-Vanuatu first-timers lifted their intensity after conceding and the rest of the half saw a more equal spread of possession as Malampa Revivors fought for the equaliser.

However, the Malampa Revivors’ captain gives full credit for his development as a player and leader to the support and pure drive of his young but devoted football club.

The towering 25-year-old joined the Luganville-based club when it was established in 2010 and has never looked back, wearing the blue shirt when the side became the most successful Ni-Vanuatu football club outside Port Vila, qualifying for the 2017 edition of Oceania’s premier club competition.

“The past seven years there has been good,” he said.

The match yesterday was one-sided match with one side scoring all the first half goals, even though one was in their own net.

Raymond Gunemba opened Lae’s scoring streak when he received a through ball past Malampa Revivors goalkeeper Naruel Maliu, who had sprinted out of the box to win the ball. Gunemba ran forward to receive the ball between Maliu and the open goal and placed it in the back of the net in the eighth minute of the game.

Attacking midfielder, Romain Carlot was the hero of the match for Erakor after he netted two goals but Jason Thomas was the player who helped Erakor beat Malampa when he scored the winning goal from the penalty spot in 75 minutes.

Last Saturday host Malampa beat Erakor in the same scoreline and Erakor replied back strongly yesterday in the last 15 minutes when they won a penalty in Malampa penalty box and Jason Thomas made no mistake as he tap the ball in the back of Malampa’s net.

Malampa Revivors booked their place in tomorrow’s Telecom Vanuatu Limited (TVL) National Super league (NSL) final after beating the much invested Ifira Black Birds of the Port Vila league by 2 goals to 1 on Wednesday. It will be facing an upheaval challenge against longtime champions, the Amical Football club that quashed Vaum United also of Luganville Football league by 2 – nil.