Tupapa Maraerenga FC remains winless and goalless after two matches in the OFC Men’s Champions League in Honiara, Solomon Islands.

Following a 0-3 loss to Vanuatu’s Ifira Black Bird on Sunday, Tupapa suffered a 0-7 defeat to Solomon Islands’ Central Coast FC on Wednesday.

The Mii Piri-Savage-coached side will face Group B leaders and unbeaten Hekari United of Papua New Guinea in its final pool match this Saturday.

Speaking to OFC Media after the match, Piri-Savage said they did not get the result they wanted against Central Coast FC.

“We came into the match looking to be competitive, but after a couple of goals at the start of the game, all we can do is play some good football,” said Piri-Savage, the only female coach in the tournament.

“And we had some standout players throughout, individuality, brilliance in there, which is really good and it showed in this game. And all we can do is take what we’ve learned from here into our next game.”

Despite the losses, Piri-Savage said the matches played so far was a “great exposure for our young players”.

“And they did well. They came on, they did the job against players that are another level from us in terms of domestic competition. It’s a great learning for us and I'm hoping that these boys will take it back and either develop themselves or players around them as well.”

Piri-Savage said the final group match against Hekari United would be tough.

“The mindset coming into this is, can we still be competitive? Can we play some good football? Can we, you know, at least try to attack? Which we have and we can do it.

“So all we have to do is work on that and just make our country proud and our families and our club as well.”

She thanked their fans for “giving us the extra edge” and for the support coming from home, “whether it be by social media, texts, it’s flooding through to our players and management and we do appreciate it”.

OFC