The Papua New Guinea Football Association is at the moment looking at their appeal options regarding the send off of midfielder, David Browne.
A flurry of cards, a man sent off and consistent grounding of players marred the quality of the FIFA World Cup Qualifier between Papua New Guinea and Tahiti.
Browne’s send off after 25 minutes, changed the game for Papua New Guinea.
What started off on a positive note for Papua New Guinea descended into self destruction for the home side, against a mediocre Tahiti.
Both sides had appeared largely equal, both in terms of possession and attack. However, the surprising send-off by midfielder, David Browne, after 25 minutes had the audience in an uproar.
An innocuous aerial contest between Browne and Taumihau Tiatia, had referee, s)Salesh Chand, pull out a straight red card.
Tahiti would use that extra man, as well as poor sportsmanship to disrupt PNG.
There were issues by the home-side in the buildup – Raymond Gunemba’s two yellow cards from the OFC nations cup ruling him out, and the passport issues regarding three other potential first 11 players, would eventually work against PNG.
Flemming Serritslev’s obvious first 11 for the match, had been influenced by these decision, with five players under the age of 23 years making their debuts.
Tahiti, for their part, spent a lot more time on the ground than they did playing football.
Physically bigger than their Melanesian opponents, the crowd at the Sir John Guise stadium was little impressed with the diving by the visitors.
