Lae City edge B’ville

By PARKER TAMBUA
A RAYMOND Gunemba double and a Jacob Sabua goal in injury time helped Lae City edge Bougainville 3-2 in round six of the Kumul Petroleum National Soccer League at the Sir John Guise Stadium in Port Moresby on Saturday.
Bougainville, who went into the match as underdogs, played beyond expectations as they pushed the defending champions all the way in a competitive clash.
The unpredictable Bougainvilleans scored first early in the game through striker David Mosim and took that lead to halftime.
Favourites Lae City struggled in the opening exchanges with their attack struggling to finish off opportunities thanks in part to some desperate defence by Bougainville’s Richard Mongi and Abel Redenut.
The pair gave little room and time for City’s main weapons Gunemba and Nigel Dabinyaba.
The second half saw a frustrated City raise their tempo as they worked to put more pressure on the Bougainville defence.
That tenacious attitude finally paid off when Gunemba found the back of the net to level the scores off a Dabinyaba corner kick.
The match was delicately poised as each side traded probing runs and both sets of defences rose to snuff out opportunities.
It wasn’t until the 80th minute when Gunemba’s class came to the fore as he curved a free kick around a five-man Bougainville wall to score a spectacular goal for City to lead the match for the first time.
City’s celebrations were short lived as Bougainville hit back a minute later through Gwama Taukuro who caught City goal-keeper Ronald Warisan by surprise with a fine effort off the right wing.
The match looked headed for a draw as injury time proceeded but Sabua pounced on a chance when he steered the ball past Bougainville keeper Luke Kaprangi.
Meanwhile, the first match of the double-header saw Star Mountains collect three competitions points after Morobe Wawens failed to turn up.
The pointed were awarded and match was forfeited.