11 Dec 2016

 Fresh from being bruised by title contenders Township Rollers, a resurgent visiting Lobatse side picked up the pieces and scored a last gasp goal against Gaborone United in an entertaining BTC Premiership encounter played at the National Stadium on Saturday (Dec 10).
Extension Gunners goal came in the 86 th minute after Gaborone United goalkeeper Goitseone Phoko failed to deal with a cross and his defence failing to cover him and Wazha Seleka did not waste time but capitalised on manna from heaven, sending Mapantsula fans on the eastern stand into wild raptures.
The game started on a very high tempo with Gaborone United dominating and enjoying ball possession but were often indecisive on the final third. Credit should go to GU’s creative midfielder Mpho Kgaswane who kept Gunners on their toes with his nippy touches.
On the other side Extension Gunners who were chasing shadows until the half hour mark when hard working midfielder Kutlwelo Mpolokang organised the middle of the park but his timely passes were misfired by Emmanuel Machinya and Thabiso Mabachi.
The duo failed to capitalise on the numerous golden scoring opportunities presented to them by errors committed by GU defenders led by the no nosense Ghanian defender Godwin Osei Bonsu who narrowly escaped matching orders after being warned twice.

Again Gunners tried and tested winger, Kgololo Kgokobi was more wasteful as he spend most of his time losing the balls that could have yielded them goals.

Extension Gunners coach, Daniel Nare said in an interview that GU played high  pressing game, in the event  adding  more numbers moving forward , “so our game plan was not to press them but use  our flanks with Kgogobi and Thabiso Mabachi using their speed.

“But I was let down by poor distribution in my midfield, they failed to create, and that’s where we struggled big time. But I am happy today we defended better compared to other games,” he said.

Nare further said he was happy with his players given that they fought the entire game, adding that everything went according to plan.

He said his plan is to go shopping when the transfer window opens and intends to rope-in two strikers one midfield and a centre back to tighten his squad.

“Look Oscar Ncenga is at Township Rollers  and not playing, why can’t I take him so that he can help me with the height, come January I am going to buy and reinforce and see how far we can go. It is one game at a time,” he said.

Gaborone United coach Rodolph Zapata said the game was very tactical and he was happy with his player’s fighting spirit.

“Well I know why we lost the game, but I cannot tell you, I don’t have much to say at the moment,” he said.

In other games played on Saturday Nico United beat Green Lover 3-2,Jwaneng Galaxy and Miscellaneous played 1-1,High riding Orapa United beat BDF XI 3-1,Police X1 forced a 1-0 victory against Security Systems, while  Gilport Lions and  Sankoyo Bush Bucks game was called off after Lions arrived late at the venue. ENDS