Lautoka coach Kamal Swa­my said it was his team’s work ethic that helped them beat Labasa 2-1 on Satur­day night to claim a spot in the semi-final of the Vodafone Fiji FACT.

Blues midfielder Benjamin To­tori’s winner 10 minutes before full time sent the home crowd at Churchill Park into a frenzy.

Striker and captain Samuela Dr­udru had earlier given Lautoka the lead on the cusp of half-time but Ilisoni Logaivou equalised early in the second half through a penalty.

The match looked by all ac­counts to be heading for a draw until Totori beat goalkeeper Akuila Mataisuva with a calm finish to keep Lautoka on course for their first title of the season.

The wins saw Lautoka become the first team to reach the knock­out stages, having walloped Ta­vua 8-2 on Friday.

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Lautoka Coach Kamal Swamy said: “We are all happy with the win.

“I talked about it to the boys, and my player knew about it, we had a game plan and we worked on it.

“Our game plan came up nicely and some players went the extra mile so we got the victory.

Labasa coach Ananda Sami said: “The boys did well. We had a game plan to tackle Lautoka but I didn’t work out that way.

“They had two opportunities and they used it well. We had few chances in the beginning of the game but we did not capitalise.”

-Edited by Sheldon Chanel

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