Fiji remains on top in the OFC U20 Championship in Suva after its impressive 3-0 victory over Papua New Guinea this afternoon. The Ravinesh Kumar coached side despite making a slow start gained its rhythm late in the first half and score its opening goal just before the breather through New Zealand based Altaaf Sahib who climbed over the defence and the keeper to find the back of the net after connecting with a Nikhil Chand through pass. The Fijians dominated possession in the second spell and played with a lot of confidence. Rugged defender Mataiasi Toma headed the second from a Narendra Rao corner while replacements Ashnil Raju and Saula Waqa combined well to beat the PNG defence and score the third goal with Waqa getting the last touch. PNG were unlucky to end the match without a goal as they two missed two good opportunities in the dying minutes. One of their attempts came off the cross-bar while another was saved daringly by keeper Misiwani Nairube who had a quiet game between the sticks. Coach Kumar said the players played according to the game plan and remained focused till the final whistle. "This was a good result for us. It feels good to win all three matches. We started off on a slow pace and are picking up our game as we are progressing in the competition. Hats off to the players for another win and we hope to maintain our form and winning run," he said. "The last 15 minutes of the match was a bit scrappy and the boys looked a bit tired. We will have a good recovery session tomorrow and will come out firing in the next match which again will be another tough one." He said the player rotation system he has been employing in the last three matches has been effective and all the players have impressed him. "Two of the players I fielded from the reserves scored goals today while Saula came on and scored the third goal as an impact player. Things are working well for us at this stage and we want to maintain our consistency." PNG coach Wynton Rufer was gracious in defeat and said they played well in the first half but gave away a lot of possession after the break. "The game was pretty evenly contested in the first 43 minutes but we lost our patience and momentum after conceding the first goal. Fiji played very well in the second half and scored two goals which further affected our performance." "The result makes it very difficult for us to qualify now but we still have two more matches to play and will try to achieve better results. I have a lot of young players and many of them are playing in the first competition. Exposure is important for these young lads and we hope to return with a lot of positives." Vodafone Fiji U20 plays its fourth match against Vanuatu at 5pm on Thursday while PNG will face New Caledonia at 7.30pm. In another match, the Solomon Islands will play American Samoa at 2.30pm.
By Reginald Chandar- Fiji Live
By Reginald Chandar- Fiji Live