Losing districts in Pool One of the Battle of the Giants tournament have accepted defeat graciously and are looking forward to better results when the tourney starts proper on Thursday.

Bottom four districts Nadroga and Nasinu who lost to Lautoka and Labasa respectively featured strongly in the first spell of their encounters and made life difficult for the two top guns until halftime.

But lack of match fitness and usage of wrong and poor tactics wilted the spirited of the two districts in the second spell allowing the more superior teams to score goals that mattered before the actual commencement of the tournament in Suva.

Despite the losses, the players and officials of the two districts maintain that they still have to play the rest in the pool and are still in with a chance.

Nadroga soccer president Permal Sami said his boys played well against Lautoka and with such a performance, they will raise a lot of eyebrows in Suva.

“We were just too unfortunate to lose as we conceded two really simple goals to Lautoka, said Sami.

“We took Lautoka to the wire and matched them in all aspects of the match but a lapse in concentration in the most critical part of the game evaded us as we allowed Lautoka to score two very simple goals which both eventuated as a result of our defensive blunders.

“We will work on our weak links and go to Suva with a more cautious approach and takes games as they come, he added.

Nasinu official Navleen Kant said his boys played really well in the first spell but could not sustain the Labasa pressure in the second and just lost their momentum in the match.

“The players did well and we are hoping for better results when we play in Suva as the matches will be played on a sixty minute basis and Nasinu is well suited to the sixty minute structure, he said.

Having played their matches on a ninety minute basis, Labasa, Nasinu, Lautoka, Naroga, Rewa, Nadi, Navua and Tavua will enter the tournament proper with a better match fitness and experience while hosts Suva and defending champs Ba will need to be on par in their opening clashes which indeed will be tough as they will against Labasa and Nadi respectively.

Fijilive

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