By GABRIEL KATUHO
HEKARI football club General Manager Vonnie Kapi Natto has expressed her gratitude towards young Hekari squad for their exceptional performance in the recent OFC championships in Honiara.
The team, made up of young and few experienced players, have made an impressive display of confidence in the field with some of the senior national players from other clubs.
In an interview last Saturday, Mrs Natto expressed her gratitude towards the team who have made it to the OFC Championship finals after 15 years.
“I never expected our young players will make it to the grand final. We have walked hard but we knew Solomon, Vanuatu, New Caledonia are very good teams ahead of us,” Wonnie said.
“I think our preparation although it was very touch, the field was very much occupied by lot of our squad and we have to work very hard,” she added.
Mrs Natto was not surprised when she saw her team reached the grand final.
The team, led by goal kipper and Captain Dave Tomare started beating Central Coast FC – a team made up of majority of the national players from Solomon Islands.
The red army went on showing great results against Vanuatu and New Caledonia who had the national players in the team.
“You look at Hekari team that we took; none of them played in a grand final or in the Oceania champions league, all of them are new, starting from the skipper down to rest of the players.
“But that tells me a lot of what I felt about worthwhile of hard work, the academy players that we have brought them in, and the transition that have taken place,” said the Hekari Boss.
“I think this is the third time, and I hope that this generation that we have now can put this as a great motivation for them to work hard,” she expressed.
Mrs Natto was impressed with the credit given to the boys by the Auckland City Football club and their coach.
She said Auckland City FC is a well-structured team, made up of well experienced players and has something for the club to learn from.
“I still feel that we can do that but then it comes back to our boys. For me I am very excited. I am the happiest person and I thanked my sponsors for being the backbone of our team.”
“MRDC and PRK all through the year, to me we did not fail them this time. We told them that we are still up there, hopefully one day we can overcome that grand final and win.
“But again, it comes back to a lot of work if we want to achieve that,” Mrs Natto said.