United, Power triumph

By LARRY ANDREW
LAE Football Association’s City United (men) and Lahi’s Prima Power (women) were crowned champions of the Mamose Club Championships at the Sir Ignatius Kilage Stadium on Sunday.
In the women’s final, Prima Power beat LFA’s Bara 1-0.
In the men’s final, United defeated Madang Soccer Association’s Wagsford 1-0.
City United and Prima Power will represent the Mamose at the National Club Championships in September.
The men’s and women’s finals were played in muddy conditions, affecting sides from producing their best football.
In the women’s final, Prima Power and Bara were on par in attack and defence but an error at Bara’s goalmouth saw Koru Somi scoring an own-goal to give the the Lahi club a 1-0 lead which they defended to run out victors. Meanwhile, despite losing in the men’s final, it was a dream run for Wagsford who had to seek community support to pay their affiliation fee to compete at the championships.
Wagsford qualified for the final after a 4-3 penalty-shootout win over LFA’s Pascol.
Due to the wet conditions, the United and Wagsford did not display the kind of football expected by supporters.
Alex Kamen’s through ball to Emmanuel Simon saw the youngster scoring the winner for United.
PNGFA competition manager Simon Koima said the revival of the championships after years of absence was initiated by the PNGFA president John Kapi Natto.
“The president is looking at securing a major sponsor to raise the profile of the championships,” Koima said.
“I saw some good football at the Mamose championships.”