The Jacks Nadi Football team after winning the Fiji Fact title.

The Jacks Nadi Football team have been crowned Champion of the 2019 Vodafone Fiji FACT after beating AFL Suva 2-1 this afternoon.

Nadi Coach Pranesh Amarsee says they deserve the win after his players went through a vigorous preparation process ahead of the tournament.

Amarsee says after advising his team at the breather, the players picked up their game tempo in the second spell.

“We have faith in our boys. We just got in late before the game, I think that’s one of the factors that affected our first half. Second half we re-grouped and the boys just played the way they usually play.”

Nadi player Rusiate Matarerega says sticking to their game plan throughout the match allowed them to maintain their lead over Suva.

“This is the first time the Nadi team has gone early to camp. Even though we lost in the first round. But coming into the semi-final also, the boys were committed even though we didn’t have much name in the team.”

Meanwhile, Nadi’s Patrick Joseph was named the player of the tournament.

Nadi’s Goalkeeper Vereti Dickson won the Golden Gloves.

Gagame Feni of Suva was awarded the Golden Boot award, scoring a walloping six goals in the entire tournament.

As the winner of the 2019 Vodafone Fiji FACT, Nadi walks away with $17,000 while runner-up Suva gets $5,000.

Match report:

The AFL Suva Football side started the Fiji Fact final on a high after Filipe Baravilala scored in the 11th minute of the match, after a breakthrough from stylish striker Gagame Feni.

Suva led 1-0 at the breather.

The Jacks Nadi side came back strong in the second half and equalized in the first minute through Rusiate Matarerega.

Remueru Tekiate scored an own goal to give Nadi a 2-1 lead.

The score remains 2-1 with Nadi leading Suva until the final whistle was blown.

Action from the Suva vs Nadi match [Source: Fiji Football]

In a match earlier, Lautoka beat Ba 4-3 to finish in third place walking away with $2,500 while Ba finished fourth to settle for $1000.

Action from the Ba vs Lautoka match [Source: Fiji Football]