13 Dec 2016

Black Forest saw off struggling heavyweights, Mochudi Centre Chiefs, in Molepolole on Monday (December 12) evening.

Magoleng managed to preserve their unbeaten run status in the BTC Premiership.

Although their win was not unexpected, looking at the two teams run in the premiership in recent games, it was still a big win for Forest considering the contrasting status of both teams.

The Mankgodi lads went into recess a goal up, courtesy of a 40th minute strike by Kedirile Mokokwe. Magoleng took the game to Chiefs in the second half progressed.

Like an ageing sprinter against another in his prime, Magosi could not cope with the pace of Forest, especially when the latter was on attack.

Magoleng were, however, let down by poor ball control just outside the box, but that was compensated by the rock-solid defence in rare instances where Chiefs managed to breakthrough.

The pressure finally paid off when Forest broke the Chiefs defence and Gofaone Mabaya slotted a goal past the helpless Noah Maposa to put the rookies 2-0 up.

After the game, Chiefs gaffer, Bongani Mafu refused to comment on the outcome of the game, instead veering off course to introduce himself, his teaching career as well as his coaching background in Zimbabwe.

The French and physical education specialist said the media had been misrepresenting his profile, instead labelling him a primary school teacher.

For his part, Magoleng assistant coach Reetsang Letlole who held the reins in place of the suspended Rapelang Tsatsilebe hailed his boys for sticking to the game plan.

“Our plan was to stifle Chiefs in the midfield, where they are strong and prevent them from supplying their wings from where they normally launch their attacks. We managed to do that and caught their quarters on counter attacks by putting the ball behind them,” he said.

Making a derby in the elite league, many expected Magoleng to be a donor of points, but they continued to shock teams. Letlole said this was due to a number of factors.

“We always ensure that we allow our players to recover after games and this helps a lot because they would come fresh for the next game. The other factor is that most of the players have been with this team for a long time since our regional football days through to the first division and now here,” he said.

Letlole said they had not made a mistake of replacing the players with the so called experienced ones when they got promoted, something which he said motivated the players.

Letlole said at the moment their aim was to accumulate as many points as possible so that when the league gets tougher with time, they would not be in a desperate situation for points. ENDS