on 15 january 2011, gigira laitepo drew 4–4 with eastern stars amid some 'pathetic' refereeing, a result which damaged stars' title hopes while boosting gigira's playoff hopes. a week later, gigira secured a shock 1–0 win over champions hekari, but would later have the result overturned to a 0–3 defeat after it was discovered they had fielded an ineligible player. in fact, four of gigira's fixtures – including two more wins, against besta png and madang fox – were later overturned for the same reason, with side slumping from playoff hopefuls to league basement dwellers. elsewhere, besta png united began to revive their season with back-to-back wins, including 2–0 win over tukoko university on 29 january, which took them into february in fourth place.