07 Mar 2019

The founder and coach of Francistown-based Debswana First Division North team, Eleven Angels, Seemo “Sixteen” Mpatane says his team is heading in the right direction despite competing in the higher league for the first time.

Mpatane said this after his team shocked many by winning the play-offs and being promoted to first division last season. It continues to shock many as they are doing well in the league despite playing with youthful and inexperienced players.

He said their target was to stay in first division, and they look set to achieve that as they are currently on position four with 26 points. They are above power houses and former premier league clubs such as Nico United and Motlakase Power Dynamos, and only four points behind third placed Sua Flamingos.

He said the team has played 13 games so far and won six, drew five and lost two. They hammered Calendar Stars 7-1 which is the highest score margin in the first division north so far.

Mpatane said his team also managed to hold Nico United to a 2-2 draw away from home, and beat former premier league club Motlakase 1-0 away from home, adding that the team was enjoying support during the games which motivated them even more.

“I did not expect my boys to achieve this considering the fact that they are still young and new to first division,” Mpatane said with a smile.

The 27-year-old coach said the oldest player at Eleven Angels was 24-years-old and the youngest was 15-years-old, adding that some players were still in junior and senior schools.

The young coach added that he was lucky to be able to keep his promising players because they were in high demand during the transfer window with some premier league teams knocking at his door day and night promising huge amounts of cash.

Mpatane said he decided not to add experienced players to his squad because he wanted to continue with his young players that he groomed for years before the team was officially registered.

He said he believed in his young boys as they understand him and he understands them.

He refused to blame lack of experience for his side’s loss and being knocked out of the Orange FA Cup. They were beaten 4-2 by Great North Tigers after taking a 2-0 lead, saying luck was not on their side.

“I am not putting my boys under pressure, but I can assure you that now we are dreaming big .We can even get position two and manage to qualify for the play-offs, why not?,” he wondered.

He warned other teams to watch out for his youthful team, affectionately called “Lekgamu la bananyana” by football fans.

With only six games to go, Mpatane said his players’ morale was high and that they believed they could still climb to a higher position on the log.

Mpatane said first division was much tougher as all the teams were dangerous and played good football. He added that many teams have experienced players and coaches who have being in the first division for a long time and that some even coached at the premier league level,

He said the other challenge was that most of his players were still in school which sometimes made it difficult for them to attend games and training, especially during examination times.

He said the team needed resources such as money, transport and food, revealing that some individuals and companies had being helping, but that it was not enough.

He pleaded with individuals and  companies to help the team so that it continued to get good results. Ends