07 Oct 2014

The wasteful Extension Gunners were on October 5 lucky to escape unscathed by the solid but unlucky Ecco City Greens in a game that could have gone either way at the new Lobatse stadium.

Gunners won 1-0 through Nsongamali Shabby’s late second half header that gave the edgy supporters hope for a better day, after blowing several goal scoring opportunities.

It took almost 80 excruciating minutes and more persistence for the on- song Gunners to take advantage of the home crowd and separate themselves from the boys. 

But oblivious of their position on the table, Greens took the game to Gunners from the first whistle with gay abandon, hoping for an early goal to seal the deal, but could not sustain their effort long enough in the face of opposition.

While they did everything they knew how to do, and matched their opponents pound for pound in all departments, Greens obviously lacked predatory, cut throat instinct Malepa Chippa Bolelang used to provide.

Gunners on tone hand, although endowed with quality players, they still had  to turn their lucrative bench into a sure fire winning combination. The team was endowed with galaxy of stars in the likes of Pako 'Tsotso' Modikwa, Jomo Moatlhaping, Tshepo Maikano, Tshepo 'Schoolboy' Molefe, Gabriel Bokhutlo and the explosive Topo Piet among others but putting them together remained a daunting challenge.

Meanwhile, the win placed Gunners on top four with 16 points and on a collision course with the high riding cross town rivals, Botswana Meat Commission FC who are next on the line, while Greens remain stuck at the bottom of the table.

In a post-match interview, Greens coach Oupa Kowa said, “Football is cruel. We matched this team in every department and even got a goal scoring opportunity that was blown away by our own striker.  This is how we play game in and game out, match teams but loses at the end, but we shall keep fighting.”

Gunners coach Dragojlovic Stanojlovic said they were under mammoth pressure to win the game but was happy to have escaped with maximum points through persistence. He said his next focus was BMC.  ENDS