25 Mar 2018

Tebogo Sembowa helped Zebras snatch  a late win against Likoena of Lesotho in a friendly match played at the National Stadium on Saturday.

While it seems the game was set for a dull goalless draw with only seven minutes left on the clock, Sembowa’s goal punching instincts came into full effect as he caught the Likoena’s defence napping.

Taking advantage of the opportunity presented on his side, he fired low past Samuel Khetsekile in Likoena goal post to give the Zebras the much needed victory.

Semboawa’s goal could not have come at a better time with pressure building on the Zebras as the local supporters prior to the goal had begun turning their backs on the local heroes, cheering every pass Likoena made, a sign which clearly indicated their disapproval of the Zebras’ performance on the day.

Despite the local supporters snubbing the local heroes and cheering the opponents, Likoena seldom threatened the Zebra’s defence led by Simisane Mathumo who gave an impressive performance in his new role as the team captain and led the team in complete comfort.

Judging on the formidable tried and tested starting eleven that Major Bright picked on the day despite the game being a friendly, it was evident that Major Bright troops were going all out to restore lost pride as results have been alluding the Zebras in the previous games.

The win against Likoena is the second one for the Zebras under Major Bright guidance and it is a performance that must be placed in context as it came against an experimental Lesotho side in an obvious period of transition and with nothing much at stake.

In his post-match interview, Major Bright expressed delight over the results highlighting that he remained optimistic that a win against Lesotho would bring huge confidence to the national team players and supporters alike.

He said there was a lot of potential in the team but emphasised the need to convert chances created adding that the Zebras could have gone to the interval with a healthy lead, had they converted the number of chances they created in the first half.

“It seems like more ground need to be covered in terms of rebuilding their confidence and perfecting their finishing skills,” he said.

Since the game was a friendly, Major Bright stated that he had to give more players a run hence made a lot of substitutions, something that he said might have affected the rhythm of the play in the second half.

With regard to the exclusion of Mogakolodi Ngele from the team, Major Bright explained that Ngele picked a hamstring injury during the team’s warm up session just before kickoff and he had to be replaced by Edwin Moalosi. ENDS