BREAKING NEWS!! FSM is the 2010 Inter-tertiary Champs

Solomon Islanders studying at the Fiji School of Medicine helped their side win the 2010 Inter-tertiary Soccer tournament last Saturday.

It appeared at first to be a struggle as the medical students only had 6 players to kick off their first match on Thursday. But team work and superb game plan rewarded them with a 1 all draw against the 11 member Lautoka FNU side.

They escaped with a 3-1 win in their second pool game, thanks to an opener by the Isabelian, Hicks Bule, and two goals by Hendrick Kaniki.

Their final pool game on Friday put them in the quarter finals.

Saturday's quarter final against USP 2 was expected to be a challenge but an only goal from Hicks Bule was enough to book them for the semi-final.

The semi final was a galore of goals when FSM had another chance to play the Lautoka FNU side. Hendrick continued to show his scoring spirit which together with goals from other team mates made the score 6-0.

The environment was tensed when FSM faced USP 1 in the finals. With equal support from both sides, FSM continued to surprise the team which has some big names of soccer in the Solomon Islands like Franklyn Forou. And with a vocal crowd of less than 40 diehard supporters, FSM stars in the likes of Thomas Wate, Hicks Bule and Hendrick continue to threaten USP's goal mouth with shots.

The cheering went wild when Hendricks added FSM's first goal in the first half. But USP's equalizer appeared to have taped the mouths of the medical supporters. But that has failed to dampen the spirit of the FSM's hardworking stars. Just when everyone was thinking of hiding in the school bus for the fear of a possible defeat, Leslie slotted home a header and sent the standing supporters into total hooray. The scoring magician Hendrick added another goal later in the second half to put them beyound reach.

FSM's defence was kept rock solid at the back by fearless Chris Diau while the ni- Vanuatu Albert and John stood their ground as flankers making the wall hard for USP to break.

SIMSA Online asked FSM's star player Hicks Bule, the skillful short Isabelian star who won a lot of hearts with his stylish ball handling and this is what he has to say "we gave them no chance in the finals to control the ball. I think our boys did a fine job by edging them off."

FSM's captain Leslie Bunabo thanked everyone for the effort that they've put into the tournament,"to come out winners is a surprise especially when none of us are fit. But thank God for everyone's participation. We've just shown that through team work everything is possible."

An after function party for some of the players was FSM's farewell function at Royal Suva Yatch Club on Saturday night.

 FSM star player Thomas Wate in action.

The diehard FSM supporters during the final.