Captain-Fantastic Raymond Gunemba scores a brace in crucial Lae City’s win

In the sixth round of the PNG National Soccer League the current national champions Lae City traveled to the country capital city Port Moresby to face FC Bougainville. The yellow side struggled to control the home side, but a late winner helped the team, coached by Peter Gunemba, to secure a very important win away from Sir Ignatius Kilage Stadium.

David Mosim opened the scoreline for Bougainville, taking an early lead for the home side. Lae was desperate to get a win – they were beaten by Vitiaz United in Lae in the previous round, allowing Hekari United to open a 3-point lead in the standings. They knew a defeat could cost them the 2nd place in the table for the same Vitiaz and see Hekari increase their point difference over Lae to six.

The second half saw a very good performance from captain-fantastic Raymond Gunemba. RG7 equalized for Lae and scored another to complete the comeback for his side and give them much more confidence in the clash.

But only the referee can say when the match is over: five minutes later than his top-class free kick, Gunemba saw his side suffer another goal through the effort of Gwama Taukuro – putting another 2 in the scoreboard to tie the match for Bougainville.

All superheroes have their faithful partners; if Raymond’s brace could not seal the victory of Lae, his Kapuls partner Jacob Sabua appeared in the last moments to give relief and score the third and final goal of the match, to seal a happy-ending in the story of the game.

Raymond Gunemba’s brace and the later winner of Jacob Sabua kept Lae City in contention. Vitiaz United would had taken the 2nd place in the table if Lae had been unable to overcome the strong test from Bougainville in Sir John Guise Stadium.

Lae City remains only three points away from Hekari in the standings, but they will need to maintain their good form if they want to defend their position in the table – they have the same amount of points of Vitiaz United – and keep chasing the leaders Hekari. You can see the full results, standings and top scorers of the season so far by clicking here.