31 Jan 2016

Green Lovers Football Club head coach, Onthusitse Kootswele has expressed frustrations over poor referee decisions made by match officials during their encounter with Sankoyo Bush Bucks on Saturday at Maun Sports Complex.

He said in an interview that the entire game was characterised by fouls and rough tackles which resulted in injuries but the match officials treated them as normal. 

Both teams played to a 0-0 draw and only two Green Lovers players were yellow carded.

Kootswele was not happy with the decisions by the referee noting that his boys could have won an away game but poor refereeing denied them three points.

However, he gave credit to their rivals, Ngurungu for displaying a sterling performance. 

He said Ngurungu boys had a game plan which worked for them as they managed to stop his strikers from penetrating their defence.

Kootswele also noted that travelling a long distance also affected their performance. He said they arrived very late on Friday and his boys had no time to rest. 

The Sankoyo supporters left the stadium disappointed after the Ngurungu boys failed to register three points against the visiting team despite its dominance during the entire first half. 

The boys controlled the game better and had more realistic chances but failed to score.

The supporters came in large numbers with expectations that the team would use the home ground advantage to increase its chances of staying afloat in the Premier League. 

In the last minutes of the game, Green Lovers came back with a renewed zeal to take its play to another level as they made frequent attacks but failed to convert the opportunities into goals until the last whistle.

Sankoyo coach, Gadimang Tiiso said his boys are still struggling to convert opportunities into goals especially when playing with small teams. 

He said they undermined Green Lovers with a hope that they would automatically win hence they lost the game psychologically.

He said although they did not start the second round well because the boys were not match fit after losing eight key players. 

He said a lot has to be done to change the players’ mindset. 

Tiiso also observed that they were intending to beef up the striking department but failed because of financial constraints. Ends