Football coaches ready to inject new blood in next NSL season

By ROBINSON LEKA
Eastern Stars coach Anthony Pakakota and his Hekari United counterpart Jerry Allan are prepared to inject new blood in the Kumul Petroleum National Soccer League next season.
Both spoke about raising the level of football in Papua New Guinea which would set the standard for younger players to be exposed to.
Pakakota, whose side finished fourth in the semi-professional competition, said his young side had a lot to learn this season.
“You have to be mentally tough. You have to have a strong mindset to stick to the game plan and structure. Your mind is the biggest contributor,” he said.
“It’s the same story for most of our matches this season where we take the lead but lose in the end. That’s something we have to work on. We need to have that strong mindset to finish off games. We must finish at the same level we start.
“The core of our players, they are all under 23 years old.
“They’ve got a bright future ahead of them. There’s a big future for the Stars and we’re going to come back bigger and stronger next season.”
Allan, whose side finished second, said he was committed to seeing the next group of footballers come through the competition.
The Solomon Islander said he was happy with the quality of football displayed by his young charges in Saturday’s grand final at the Sir John Guise Stadium.
“The young boys that went in, I am proud of them,” he said.
“I intend on keeping this young boys, they are the future of PNG and some of them are looking to be promising players. That is the way to go.”