Black Leopards were beaten 2-1 by African Warriors at Seshego Stadium last Friday. They started their NFD campaign extremely shakily, with only one league point after two matches.

Leopards only have themselves to blame. They abused countless scoring opportunities in the opening minutes. Their lethal striker, David Zulu, unleashed prematurely, instead of moving a few steps towards the keeper, Siayonga Mbatha.

The only player who was booked for rough tackling was Meshack Maphangule of Leopards. He tackled Thamsang Ngema from behind when the game was 12 minutes old.

Kamokgelo Mabuye of Warriors intercepted a back pass by a defender of the home team and blasted in a rocket. The keeper of the home team, Dino Visser, dived in the wrong direction.

Leopards made three replacements in the second half. They introduced Brian Amidu, Thomas Madimba and Edgar Manaka respectively. Amidu went loose from the right-hand corner and unleashed a ground cutter to equalise.

After the goal, Leopards came back strongly. The players of Warriors had to abandon their positions and packed themselves at the far back. The Vhembe boys should have scored in the 66th minute, but the keeper of  Warriors denied them the goal when he saved Meshack ”Mabedi” Maphangule’s shot.

The winning goal for Warriors came after a rebound in the 75th minute, when Thami Ngema scored easily. Keeper Dino Visser of Leopards had to stretch to the limit to save Siyabonga Vilani's volley in the dying minutes.