30 Oct 2017

If it takes only half a dozen games to make a true sense of how the BTC premier league championship race  might turn out at the end of the season, then Township rollers have surely made a real statement to successfully defend their crown come end of the season.

Having resumed their campaign on a high and won five games, Rollers registered their sixth win in a row on October 27 defeating their long time arch rivals, Mochudi Centre Chiefs with a 2-0 score line to took their points tally to 18.

There are a handful games that fall under category ‘A’ in the BTC league schedule and the Rollers/Chiefs encounter always sends shivers down the spines of many football fanatics with the Saturday blockbuster being no exception.

Amidst all the off field talks and controversy surrounding their talisman, Joel Mogorosi, the  week prior to the Magosi encounter, Rollers looked menace from the first blow of the whistle, launching wave after wave of attacks towards Chiefs goal minder, Noah Maposa.

Popa made their intentions clear as early as the 27th minute as Edwin Moalosi put one past Maposa only for his celebrations to be short-lived as referee Lekgotla Johannes quickly ruled the goal out for an off side.

With both teams playing with a cautious mind and tactical discipline to at least go to the interval goalless, Magosi became their own worst enemy as Thato Ogopotse put one past his own goal keeper to give Popa the lead in the dying minutes of the first half, much to the delight of the Popa supporters, who clearly were getting agitated by the resilience of Magosi.

Despite playing with an injury, Maposa put up a man of the match performance to rescue Magosi from what could have been a humiliating score line, making save after save following sloppy elementary mistakes by his defense that cheaply gave possession away in their own half.

Rollers persistent pressure however paid off in the 66th minute as Lemponye Tshireletso came to haunt his former employers with a well taken strike that left Maposa rooted to double the score for Rollers and fade any dramatic comeback dream for Magosi.

The win against Chiefs leaves Rollers unbeaten at the summit of the BTC Premiership with 18 points, while Chiefs on the other hand are finding the going tough this seasons as for the first time in many years they have registered their third loss in a row, following defeats against Black forest and Miscellaneous respectively.

In a post-match interview, Rollers head coach, Nicola Kavazovic, who on the day was wearing Mogorosi’s number 17 jersey, credited his team for strong mental strength and dedicated the win to his injured talisman, Mogorosi, adding that victory against Chiefs would not come at a better time to calm things as there was a lot said the week leading to the Chiefs encounter.

Meanwhile, Chiefs assistant coach, Pontsho Moloi admitted that his team was only in the game for  the first 40 minutes, but ran out of steam particularly towards the end of the game.

He however urged the supporters not to despair and promised them that the team would bounce back and the glory days would soon return to the Kgatleng giants of old. ENDS