22 Feb 2018

 Jwaneng Galaxy’s hopes of staging a CAF Confederation Cup comeback fell flat as they lost by a solitary goal to Costa do Sol from Mozambique in the second leg encounter played at the National Stadium on Wednesday.

Following their first leg 1-0 victory in Mozambique a fortnight ago, a superb spot kick in the 21^st minute by Isac Carvalho that left Ezekiel Morake rooted in his goal line was all that Costa do Sol needed to give them the crucial away goal that they desired to proceed to the next round of the competition on a 2-0 aggregate.

Costa barely gave Galaxy any glimmer of hope to turnaround their fortunes and register a dramatic fight back, as they dominated the encounter from the first blow of the whistle and protected their healthy advantage from the first leg by starving the hosts space and a clear sight of goal.

Patrick Kaunda came closest to giving the Jwaneng side a route back into the contest with a number of  long range  strikes, but failed to hit the target with any of them and frequently came up short against Costa do Sol’s  resilient  centre-back pairing.

With his side struggling to break through Costa’s solid defence, Galaxy’s head coach, Zlatko Krmpotic introduced the trio of Thero Setsile, Terrence Mandaza and Lesego Molemogi for Botshelo Mafoko, Patrick Kaunda and Atisang Batsi in the second half to inject more energy to his side in an effort to cut the deficit, but his tactics proved futile as his side did not even manage one shot on target in the second half.

Galaxy, however, increased their grip on possession in the dying minutes of the game, and spent most of the remainder of the game in their opponents’ half trying to carve out chances, but their final touch in the final third left a lot to be desired due to their lack of composure in front of goals.

With chances of winning the BTC Premier League clearly diminishing as well as an early exit from the Mascom Top 8 cup, Galaxy only had their hopes of silverware on the CAF cup and their Wednesday exit emphasised that their trophy cabinet will remain empty this season.

Meanwhile, Township Rollers lost 2-1 to Al-Merrikh in their second leg encounter in Sudan, but will proceeded to the next round of the CAF Champions League with a 4-2 aggregate score line as they had won the first leg encounter 3-0.  ENDS