Wadunah pleased with effort

 By HENRY MORABANG

PAPUA New women’s coach Rachel Wadunah was impressed with the performance of her side despite copping a heavy beating at the hands of New Zealand Ferns 7-1 in the first leg of the Olympic qualifier in Lae on Saturday.

Wadunah, who was tasked to take charge of the senior women’s team from former mentor Gary Phillips, said she would be working to improve the team’s performance.

She said the result could have been better if the team had more preparation and also taken part in some friendly matches leading up to the qualifier at the weekend.

She said winning was not everything but her team had reduced the score line, it would have been better result.

Wadunah said her charges were not looking for a win but improvement as they moved on in Olympics qualifiers and the Nations Cup competitions.

She said it was a tough call when she was asked to take over Phillips’ role. With the team unable to travel to Auckland for the for the second and final leg of the Olympic qualifier which scheduled for today, Wadunah said her had identified many areas to work on.

She said when the side got back together again the focus would be on corner kicks, fitness levels and most importantly the defensive structures which was the major let down for the team during the match in Lae.

Despite missing one of the key defender in Dorcas Sesevo who was removed from the team for disciplinary reasons, Wadunah strongly believes that her coaching team would soon find a working combination.

Apart from that, coach Wadunah was impressed with her bench players Megan Gunemba and Joylyn Aimi who came in the second half and had made a great impact by setting and scoring PNG’s  only goal. 

Gunemba, currently rated number one striker in PNG women’s football, replaced Jacobeth Kikoli Bani and wasted no time putting pressure on New Zealand backline to score. 

She received a good ball from Aiming before beating the goalkeeper and unleashing the powerful shot into the net.