Hekari suffer 0-1 loss

The National Sports

By PATIRICIA KEAMO
HEKARI United’s goal of reaching the Oceania Football Confederation Champions League playoff now rests on their final group fixture on Sunday against AS Pirae after suffering a 0-1 loss to Tiga Sport yesterday in Port Vila, Vanuatu.
Incomplete set pieces and missed goal opportunities saw the Erickson Komeng side stunned by the New Caledonians, thanks to a lone goal midway through the second half.
Komeng said it was disappointing to get that result as they were hoping to get a win to secure a semifinal spot, but the fight was not over for the former O-League champions who aim to rebound come Sunday.
“It was a disappointing result for us as we were hoping to get win so we can be more comfortable in the last game, but the result didn’t go our way so we aim to do better in our next game,” Komeng told The National yesterday.
“For now we will return to training and prepare as best we can for Sunday’s game.”
Hekari dominated possession in the first half with repeated attacks on Tiga Sport’s defence with goal attempts made by Ati and Kolu Kepo, Rex Naime and Joseph Joe, unfortunately they couldn’t convert those chances where four out of their nine goal attempts were on target.
“Winning a game requires you to complete your sets and put away your chances and unluckily for us, we didn’t do that which saw us coming out with a frustrating result,” said Komeng.
“We have to go back and work on training to be at our best and hopefully get a win against one of the toughest team in the Pacific.”
Komeng said they missed a lot of chances in the last two games.
“We need to work on our finishing before the last game. The last game is very important for us,” the former Hekari midfielder said.
“Going into the last game, we have a quality side to go forward. We just have to be our best and God willing we can a win and progress into the semifinals.
“We just need to be more organised going forward that’s what we lack in today’s (yesterday) game,” said the coach.
Meanwhile, Tahitian side AS Pirae managed a 2-2 stalemate with host Ifira Black Birds to give them a point lead on the ladder.
The group winner and runner-up will advance to the semifinals with the eventual winner to represent the region in the Fifa Club World Cup later this year in Saudi Arabia.