PNG register first win

A FIRST half hattrick by young striker Israel Ure has earned Papua New Guinea their first win in the Oceania Football Confederation Under-16 Championship qualifying tournament yesterday with a win 3-1 win over American Samoa.
Following their 0-14 to loss Solomon Islands, the Marty Terry side aimed for a comeback as Ure set the pace for the team, opening the scoresheet against American Samoa in the sixth minute.
Ure added two more to get his first international hattrick putting PNG up front at the break as they only conceded a goal from a penalty in the second half.
Despite PNG recording a win, Solomon Islands have taken a big step forward in qualifying for the OFC U16 men’s championship after a resounding 9-0 victory against hosts Tonga to remain unbeaten at the tournament.
PNG coach Marty Terry said after Saturday’s loss he made changes to the lineup, with Ure as a starter after having him on for 10 minutes in their opener against Solomon Islands.
“He had shown that he’s ready to take on the challenge so we had to reshuffle and surround the team in a way that we can use him to finish off our plays,” Terry told The National yesterday.
“It’s not easy to do that in this kind of tournament especially when we don’t know how it will turn out but we worked on our transitions and it paid off.
“The boys stuck to what we wanted them to deliver and they deserve the result.
“I believe the result has brought back some confident in the camp and we looking forward to our last game against the host Tonga (on Friday),” said Terry.
“Israel played his role well today (yesterday) and deserves all the praise including his team mates as well.”
Ure picked up the ball just beyond the halfway line and made a brilliant run into the box before he unleashed a vicious toe poke that snuck under keeper Alvin Talataiga and dribbled across the line for the first goal in the sixth minute.
Ten minutes later, Ure used his pace to glide past defenders to strike his second shot in and tapped it home for his hattrick just before break.