Morobe United edge Stars

By ROBINSON LEKA
Morobe United finished their Kumul Petroleum National Soccer League campaign on a high note with a 3-2 win over the Eastern Stars in Port Moresby on Saturday.
In the third-place playoff, Morobe opened the scoreboard with a goal from forward May Epale in the 13th minute.
However, it was shortlived as the Stars responded with an equaliser from Sarto Modagai in the 22nd minute.
It was the heat at the Sir John Guise Stadium that had set the pace for the opening half with a second goal to the Stars from John Ray and Morobe’s Alex Kamen to bring the game to 2-2.
The deadlock was broken after Morobe’s Russel Nirik delivered the winning goal.
Morobe coach Daimo Sami was pleased with his team’s performance throughout the competition.
“I’m happy with my players for finishing third,” Sami said.
“We worked so hard to finish the season in this manner.
“My players did well, they played according to our game plan.
“We told our midfielders to settle down and control the match.
“They followed what we had planned. The boys were happy with the formation that we went through and we knew that we would win the game.”
Stars coach Anthony Pakakota commended his side for playing well all season.
“We came out with our usual game strategy,” he said.
“We got off to a slow to start in the opening 10 minutes but we picked ourselves up and we dominated play.
“I think we were slow again to start in the second half and they got the better of us. I think it’s one of our downfalls this season in a lot of the games that we had played.
“We actually didn’t plan to be here (in the finals).
“At one stage, we were second last in the Southern Conference.
“We are making the most of our time in this season’s finals and we’ll come back stronger next year.
“Congratulations to Morobe for coming this far. It’s been tough for them.”