Solomon Warriors celebrates 7th Telekom S-League title after thrilling match

There’s a lot of joy for Solomon Warriors and its fan base in Honiara! The team finally returned to its gold moments and celebrate their seventh title of Solomon Islands national league, the Telekom S-League. The team coached by Franco Ne’e just needed a draw against Waneagu United this Sunday (Feb 12th) and they did so, a famous recovery match for the Warriors as they were trailing by two goals and managed to equalise in a last minute penalty scored by the veteran Emmanuel Poila.

Waneagu was decided to make things hard for Warriors; the striker Bobby Lesley scored for his team in the early stages of the match – at the 3rd minute. Dennis Ifunaoa scored the equaliser for his side at the 30th minute, but the talented Francis Paul added another to his team tally just three minutes later to put Waneagu in front once again.

Things became even worse in the early stage of the second half for Warriors: the former Marist striker Bobby Lesly scored his second of the match, the third for Waneagu, at the 47th minute play. Warriors were in desparate need to its experience players to step up to make a comeback.

The comeback started at the 76th minute thanks to a goal scored by the Ni-Vanuatu international John Alick – that just returned to Honiara from his country to play its decisive match. Warriors were still in need of one more goal to clinch the title and it only happened when Emmanuel Poila had the chance to score a penalty kick at the 90th minute of play. The match ended in a 3-3 draw – the point earned for Solomon Warriors was enough to make them earn their seventh national title.

After the match, the players were emotional and celebrated their achivement. Franco Ne’e, Warriors coach, gave an inspiring interview to TSL Media just after the final whistle. Dennis Ifanuaoa, one of the most important team members of the Warriors, told Oceania Football he was feeling very good and glad for finally turn themselves into champions again.

Now, after the Warriors’ title confirmation, Kossa, Henderson Eels and Central Coast FC are battling for the second place in the table – the team that eventually finishes as runners-up will take part of the national round of the OFC Champions League against Warriors to decide which of the two sides will represent Solomon Islands in the regional tournament.