A gutsy Tailevu Naitasiri side held Suva to a 1-1 draw in their round 13 clash at Uprising Sports Centre in Navua.

The draw means Suva now has 25 points on the competition standings while Tailevu Naitasiri who is ninth on the ladder have nine points.

Just two minutes into the match Suva netted their first goal via a powerful Meli Codro strike.

Codro was a threat throughout the match on the left flank and was put into space at times with some lovely touches from Filipe Baravilala, Marlon Tahioa, and Malakai Rakula.

Suva missed a few scoring chances in the first spell while Tailevu Naitasiri was kept at bay by the Whites defenders of Inoke Turagalailai, Remueru Tekiate, and young Samuela Navoce.

However, Suva’s defensive line was finally breached in the 77th minute when substitute Ratu Simione Rage equalized for Tailevu Naitasiri following some brilliant work by the team.

The Whites had a few more scoring chances in the last quarter of the match but just couldn’t execute them.

Suva Coach Babs Khan says this is a wake up call for them.

“Good thing is we didn’t lose, we lost a bit of focus when we won the Fiji FACT. I guess we were thinking we were right on the top, it is a wake up call and dig deep.”

Tailevu Naitasiri Head Coach Nigel Khan says the team executed the game plan well.

“Suva is a good team, nothing taken away from them, but the boys really concentrated for 90-minutes, and played their hearts out. The new boys also gelled in well.”