Panget bags five goals as Wawens flog rookies Sepik

By LARRY ANDREW
FIVE-GOAL hero Joshua Panget helped Morobe Wawens record their second-biggest National Soccer League win with a 9-4 triumph over rookies Sepik at Sir Ignatius Kilage Stadium in Lae on Saturday.
Their biggest win was against Buang (11-0) in the 2017-18 season, which reigning champions Lae City equaled against rookies Northern Youth.
The other round-three match of Lae’s triple-header saw Madang’s Tusbab Stallions score a late goal to force a 1-1 draw with Peter Gunemba-coached Lae City Dwellers.
Wawens coach Percy Mataio told The National that he was thrilled with the emphatic victory.
“This is one of those matches where you sometimes forget to defend and go forward to score more goals,” he said.
“So to avoid that, you have to be disciplined in defence.

“We were defensively poor in some stages of the match and that’s something we’ll work on.
“But congratulations to Sepik, they fought hard and deserved all four goals.
“We will go back and improve on our defence to come back a much better team against Morobe United in our next match.”
Sepik coach Derrick Maira said his team had raw, upcoming players who needed time to adjust to semi-professional football.
“My players are still young and inexperienced,” he said.
“They’re still getting used to high-pressure football.
“But I’m sure that they’ll improve as the season progresses.
“Our cover defence collapsed which allowed our opponents to score quick goals in the first opening minutes of the game.
“There was also no proper coordination to complete our finishing.
“We will work on our attack, defence and coordination at training.”

Wawens’ first two goals came from bmobile man of the match Panget, who was assisted by Winston Somasi, to set the tone for their goal fest.
Somasi was again at the centre of Wawens’ attack as he set up Bernard Purari, Giwi Simon and Panget – who netted his third goal – for a 5-2 lead at halftime.
Sepik’s first-half goals were scored via Sadeth Nere’s direct penalty and Ezekiel Yanum, whose effort deflected in off Wawens goalkeeper Graham Beragami. In the second half, Sepik captain Henry Salle reduced the scoreline to 3-5.
But Wawens responded with a goal by substitute Brendan Ben, who headed home Panget’s cross for a 6-3 lead. Wawens added three more goals through Emmanuel Simongi and striker Panget (two).
Junior Moke netted Sepik’s fourth goal to round out a brave performance by the visitors.