Cats sink undermanned Koboni

By ROBSON AKIS
KOBONI suffered a demoralising defeat at the hands of a youthful 13 Plus Cats in the round-eight match of the Moni Plus-sponsored Port Moresby Australia Football League competition at the Colts Oval on Saturday.
The Cats walloped the 2015 and 2018 champions 4.12 (36) to 2.4 (16) in a match that did not reach any great heights.
The Demons went into the match missing the services of a huge chunk of their Papua New Guinea Mosquitoes stars Stanis Susuve, Paul Philip, Amua Pirika, David Topeni, Jason So-on, John James and Max Lavai and struggled to match the Cats across the park.
Douglas Lai Jr and Brendan Beno were the only Mosquitoes who showed up for the Demons but these two, together with Lai Lai Jr, Francis Brown and Curtly Ila, could not keep a determined Cats, led by Glen Saniong and Greg Ekari, at bay.
Ekari and Saniong dominated play in the midfield to set up Cats in the first quarter to notch two goals and five behinds while the Demons struggled with the wind to manage only three behinds to go into first break trailing 3-17.
The second quarter was an even battle and the Demons managed two goals and a behind against the wind through Douglas Lai Jr while the Cats nabbed a six-pointer to maintain a narrow 23-16 lead at halftime.
The Cats held the Demons scoreless in the third quarter while they progressed to snap a major against the wind.
The Demons came out strongly in the final quarter.
But their efforts could not reel in the Cats who kicked a goal and three behinds.
The win enabled the Cats to leap frog Koboni into third spot.
In the women’s matches on Saturday, Koboni belted the Cats 6.6.(42) to 1.5 (11) while reigning premiers Dockers beat West Eagles 5.6 (36) to 1.0 (6).