ADVERTISEMENT:
The Leopards’ keeper, Dino Visser, was one of the players who could not hold back their tears after the game.
Leopards in mourning
Sport Date: 05 June 2014
While it was all tears of joy in the Polokwane City camp after their promotional play-off match against Black Leopards at the Giyani Stadium on Sunday, the situation was completely different in the Leopards’ dressing room.
The 1-2 defeat did not go down well with the players of Black Leopards and most of them, including their captain, Dunga Munganga, could not hold back their tears. The visitors from Polokwane played defensive football from the onset, knowing that a draw was good enough for them to stay in the Absa Premiership division.
City relied mostly on counter-attacks. It took them only two minutes to stamp their authority. They were awarded a free kick just outside the box. Moyana Galagbwe flicked the ball and the Leopards’ keeper, Jacob Mokhasi, watched helplessly as the ball went beyond his reach.
Sandile Sibande of City was booked by Referee Robert Smith for a late tackle on Leonard Ntshangase. The situation turned even uglier for the home side in the 14th minute. Tlou Molekwane was brought down on the brink of registering the second goal. That was good reason for the referee to award a penalty to City, or Rise and Shine, as they are commonly known. Vukile Mngqibisa put the visitors further ahead from the penalty spot.
The keeper of Leopards, Jacob Mokhasi, was forced to stretch wide to save Sphesihle Nzimande’s hot shot in the 27th minute. Mokhasi sustained an ankle injury in the process. Mokhasi was replaced with Dino Visser.
Lidoda Duvha introduced Bafana Sibeko and sacrificed Edgar Manaka towards the end of the first half. The Thohoyandou outfit realized that it was not their day when they missed two scoring chances in quick succession. The ball hit the crossbar both times.
Leonard Ntshangase scored the only goal for Leopards with a ground cutter.
Polokwane City were reduced to 10 men after Sandile Sibande was given his marching orders for a dangerous tackle on Mumuni Abubakar in the 74th minute.
As a result of the defeat, Black Leopards will remain in the National First Division for another season.
Written by
Frank Mavhungu
Frank is a Human Resources Manager at the Department of Public Works in Limpopo. He is the longest serving correspondent of the Mirror, having joined us at the end of 1990. He mainly writes sports reports and resides at Tsianda Village. In 2004, Frank won the National Castle League Award, an award for the best reporter in the SAB league in South Africa.
ADVERTISEMENT: