27 Nov 2017

Defeated Mahalapye Hotspurs coach, Wame ‘Pepe’ Mokoke says his team is going through a rough patch following their 1-0 loss to Francistown side Calendar Stars in the Debswana First Division North (FDN) encounter on November 25.

In a post-match interview at the old Francistown Stadium, the youthful 26-year-old coach said they had lost most of their players after they relegated to the second tier league from the BTC Premiership early this year.

He said they were now trying to rebuild the team from scratch, noting that they did not prepare well in the pre-season, resulting in the side struggling in the Debswana FDN.

“In today’s game, we lacked creativity in the first half and some of our young and old players ended up fading during the game, hence giving away such as soft goal,” he noted.

Mokoke said the team will however pull up its socks and ensure they move away from the middle of the 12 teams’ log.

Calendar Stars won the game on the 63rd minute when Hotspurs defence failed to clear danger that was presented by Lovemore Murirwa, who sent in a great pass into the 16 yard area.

Oketsang Mochaina of Stars managed to then grab a goal, beating Hotspurs goalkeeper Kago Mmopi amid the confusion by the defence.

Stars coach, Boipuso Manyalo was elated after the win and said in a post-match interview that he was happy to have collected the maximum points against the former BTC Premiership campaigners.

He said they had wanted to play better in the first half but Hotspurs managed to read their approach, making it difficult for his players to maneuver.

Manyalo said he then realised in the second half that they could do better and go for the kill, hence using faster players in the flanks to attack as they currently do not have a dedicated top man to send balls to.

He said given the way they played, he could use such a win to build on the players’ character and use the remaining three games of the first round to collect a maximum of seven points if they cannot collect all the nine available.

Both teams had a lackadaisical approach to the game, with the first half failing to produce the spark but started to do better after the half-time recess.

In the end, it was Calendar Stars, who are on their first season in the Debswana FDN and walked home with three points in the bag. ENDS