Ba smashes Navua as Vodafone Premier League resumes

The long wait finally reached its end when Ba and Navua clashed in a historical match at Fiji FA Academy on this Saturday. For the first time ever Fijian football fans were able to watch a Vodafone Premier League match live on TV for free as Fiji Football Association and Fijian Broadcasting Corporation (FBC) set a three-month partnership to telecast the league.

After a bad campaign in 2020 OFC Champions League, Ba came to the pitch with a very different squad as many players left the team while Navua had goalkeeper Josaia Ratu making his debut for his new club.

Samuela Drudru opened the scoreboard for Ba after a well-timed cross from debutant Sumeet Goundar. Saula Waqa extended Men in Black’s lead after a deep through pass from Abbu Zahid in the ninth minute. Navua found the net for the first time in the match with a penalty kick scored by Vineet Chand.

Both teams kept finding the net in the second half: Abbu Zahid scored a marvelous goal lobbing Navua’s keeper and Saula Waqa got a brace after another well-timed pass from Sumeet Goundar to extend Ba’s lead to 4-1. Debutant forward Apisai Smith found the net for Navua but Abbu Zahid scored for Ba in the upcoming minute. Apisai Smith still had time to score his second goal of the match from the penalty stop. You can check the match highlights in the video below:

Ba has now six points in two matches while Navua remains on the eighth and last position with one point in five matches. You can see the current league standings by clicking here.