Vipers rebound to beat Tumbe in round 15

By PATRICIA KEAMO
PORT Moresby Vipers are back in the winner’s circle after defeating Waghi Tumbe 28-14 in their round-15 Digicel Cup clash at the Santos National Football Stadium yesterday.
The Vipers led 18-4 at the break, thanks to Junior Kale’s double and a try each from Aaron Kamba and John Stanley, which put them in the clear against the Jiwaka government-sponsored visitors.
Tumbe capitalised on a few errors by the Vipers and added 10 points, but it wasn’t enough as a second-half effort by Karis Peter and Brian Gispe sealed the win for the Andiki Andrew-coached side.
Andrew said he was happy about the rebound after losses to Rabaul Gurias and Hela Wigmen in the last two rounds.
“We were looking for a win and expected mistakes, so we didn’t put pressure on the players,” he told The National yesterday.
“Our aim was to score more than 30 points, but recording this scoreline was impressive.
“The team really did well and the percentage will make a difference, so I’m happy for the players.”
Andrew said he had identified error which they would work towards fixing for their next clash with Gulf Isou on Sunday.
“For the last three games, I saw the same mistakes,” he said.
“When we made mistakes, Tumbe took advantage of them to score tries.
“If we can polish up on that in the next game, we should be a better team going into the finals.”