05 Dec 2016

Nico United held BTC Premiership log leaders Orapa United to a 0-0 draw in a league encounter in Selebi Phikwe on Saturday (December 3).

The struggling Majombolo was confidence in the field and gave the Ostriches of Orapa a tough encounter.

Nico’s goal keeper, Otsile Tshetlha, was also kept on his toes and busy during the encounter saving about four clear goals which opposition players failed to convert.

On one hand, Nico who were denied a goal due to offside trap in the first half, also failed to convert numerous scoring chances they had.

In an interview, Nico’s coach Dean Mwiinde said he was happy with the team’s performance.

He said his boys managed to hold up a premier league giant team who are also Mascom Top 8 champions.

Mwiinde said his boys’ moral was high and they took instructions accordingly.

He said his boys had improved their play and this made him happy more so because most of his players are from lower division leagues.

Mwiinde said there was room for improvement and his players needed to exert more effort to win games.

He also indicated that he had to work more on frontline of his team and the finishing touches to convert goals.

“I needed the three points more than Coach Madinda Ndlovu and we blew the chances we had to take the lead,” he said.

He went on to state that they intend to do well against BDF XI on Wednesday in their back yard. Currently, Nico United is on position eight with 11 points.

Meanwhile, Orapa United’s coach Ndlovu acknowledged the performance of boys.

He said they could have won the game.

He said according to his perception, the Ostriches were a better team of the day in that they managed to penetrate Nico’s defence numerous times but failed to score clear goals.

“We had many opportunities to score but my boys could not hit the net which was disappointing,” he said. He mentioned that with the absence of wingers, this time around they did move forward from the flanks and attack their opponent which is their usual play.

He said this impacted on his team’s game plan.

Further, he said most of his players were on injury which meant he had to reshuffle the team again.

However, he indicated that his boys played well and he was happy that they did not lose the game and managed to draw against Nico.

Currently the Ostriches were on top of the BTC Premiership league with 17 points. ENDS