Rapatona FC makes it into second stage

 By HENRY MORABANG

TELIKOM National Soccer League Southern Conference minnow PKA Rapatona are through to National League championships next week.

The Posman Kua Aisi Lawyer-sponsored team will join runaway leaders, Hekari United to meet the winners of Northern Conference.

Northern Conference winners were Lae City Dwellers and Welgris Morobe United.

Rapatona should thank Erema for their upset 2-1 win over FC Port Moresby. 

Erema scored through Tau Winnie in the 27th minute and Roland Bala leveled the scores at the 37th minute before towering Bofeng Garambini headed the winner in the 85th minute to seal the match. 

The Clement Anisa-coached team had to complement their entry into the competition with their impressive win 2-1 over luckless Gigira Laitepo United FC.

Anisa said he was happy with the win stating that the boys proved their critics wrong to advance to the next stage of the National Soccer League.

“We came from the outside lane to sneak into the next stage of play.” 

Flanker Pattersen Elijah was the toast of Rapatona camp scoring two quick goals to shock Gigira Laitepo United FC supporters.

Elijah scored the first goal from a Richard Lapan fumble, and later he scored from a through ball in Gigira Laitepo danger zone to cushion the lead.

The game see-sawed until the injection of young super sub Juliah Elijah who beat Rapatona defender Christopher Mathew to lop the ball over goalkeeper John Bai to narrow the score line 

The goal certainly sparked off some fireworks which resulted in young Rapatona midfielder Yangen Nalu given the marching orders for an early shower for his un-sportsmanlike play.

Gigira Laitepo coach David Passam was overall pleased with the team’s performance stating that Rapatona made sure of their opportunities that was why they won.

“We had a couple chances but poor options by forwards denied us the win,” he said.

In the early game, Hekari had a 10 out of 10 winning record in the Southern conference by thrashing Huawei PS United 6-2.

The win sets them apart as a strong contender for the NSL champions tag.