Coach wants Labasa out

The support of the vanua of Namosi will fuel the efforts of the River Tubing Fiji/Classic Tours & Rentals Navua team to defeat hosts Extra Labasa in tomorrow’s semi-final of the Extra Battle of the Giants at Subrail Park. 

This was the gist of Navua head coach Maxwell Thaggard (also known as Babs Khan) interview with SUNsports yesterday. 

“We have the vanua backing us with Tui Namosi Ratu Suliano Matanitobua who was with us all the time,” Thaggard said of the former national football star striker.

“He (Ratu Suliano) was with us on Wednesday night and hopefully he’ll go with us to the North. 

“It’ll be tough and it’s about us trying to get activated and get our game plan right. 

“We’re kind of fatigued in our last game so we’re managing our fatigue now and try to get back to our normal rhythm.” 

Thaggard said Labasa would be at an advantage playing at home in front of their fans. 

“They (Labasa) play to the crowd. It’s about us trying to win but now it’s who wants it more, it’s either them or us. Like I always say, the bounce of the ball will decide the game,” he said. 

“We have some injures with our players and we’re trying to manage that at the moment. We still have today (yesterday) and tomorrow (today).” 

Thaggard did not reveal the names of the injured players in his team. 

“If they get fit, we’d be a good side,” he said. “We have not won a tournament for a long time and that’s our main goal. We’ll try to win one this year but if we win the B.O.G, it’ll be a big bonus for us.”

Thaggard urged the Navua fans to remain positive of their chances for a finals berth in the tournament. 

“We are not going to lose, we are going there to win. We’ll have to get Labasa out of the way and bring the trophy to Navua.” 

Thaggard said his team intends to break the rhythm of the Babasiga Lions side and limit their scoring opportunities.