There will be a play-off for the Solomon Islands' 2012 O-League place after Solomon Warriors defeated Koloale on penalties following a hard-fought 1-1 extra-time draw in the final of the Telekom S-League Championship Series.
The result means the two sides will now meet each other again to determine who will represent the country in the next O-League - a clash that would not have been necessary if Koloale had followed up their S-League title win with another victory in Sunday's championship final at Lawson Tama Stadium.
But the Warriors were in no mood to let that happen and signalled their intentions straight away by taking the lead with one of the first kicks of the game.
The referee had barely removed the whistle from his mouth when U-20 international Dennis Ifunaoa stole possession and lobbed the ball over goalkeeper Shadrack Ramoni to put Warriors in front after just 30 seconds.
Another chance fell to Ifunaoa five minutes later but he could not take advantage and the iniative was instead handed over to Koloale, who began to press forward themselves and enjoyed the better of the rest of the half.
They could not find a way past Warriors goalkeeper Paul Huia though and the teams went into the sheds with the score still at 1-0.
It remained that way for the first half of the second spell but the Warriors finally saw the lead they had clung onto for over an hour disappear in the 66th minute when Ian Paia tucked away a Joses Nawo cross to bring the Koloale fans to their feet.
There was no further scoring for the remainder of the half and extra-time also failed to produce any more goals as the teams edged towards a penalty shootout.
Goalkeeoper Huia, fresh from helping his country win the OFC Futsal Championship in Fiji last month, became a hero during the shootout by saving the spot kicks of Jeffery Bule and Nawo to earn his side a memorable win and keep alive their O-League hopes.
But the Warriors were in no mood to let that happen and signalled their intentions straight away by taking the lead with one of the first kicks of the game.
The referee had barely removed the whistle from his mouth when U-20 international Dennis Ifunaoa stole possession and lobbed the ball over goalkeeper Shadrack Ramoni to put Warriors in front after just 30 seconds.
Another chance fell to Ifunaoa five minutes later but he could not take advantage and the iniative was instead handed over to Koloale, who began to press forward themselves and enjoyed the better of the rest of the half.
They could not find a way past Warriors goalkeeper Paul Huia though and the teams went into the sheds with the score still at 1-0.
It remained that way for the first half of the second spell but the Warriors finally saw the lead they had clung onto for over an hour disappear in the 66th minute when Ian Paia tucked away a Joses Nawo cross to bring the Koloale fans to their feet.
There was no further scoring for the remainder of the half and extra-time also failed to produce any more goals as the teams edged towards a penalty shootout.
Goalkeeoper Huia, fresh from helping his country win the OFC Futsal Championship in Fiji last month, became a hero during the shootout by saving the spot kicks of Jeffery Bule and Nawo to earn his side a memorable win and keep alive their O-League hopes.
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