08 Oct 2019

Debswana First Division North outfit, Santa Green, defeated Francistown City Greens 3-1 in Jackalas No 2 on October 5. 

Being a novice in the first division, Santa Green of Mahalapye was not intimidated by their more fencied opponent.

The new entrants made their intentions known by a brace from 18-year-old Bokang Rathipana in the first half and while  Amantle Motswetla scored the third late in the second half.

Santa Green went into the weekend clash perched at position three while City Greens were languishing at position nine in a log comprising 12 teams.

It was clear  from the onset that the rookies,  the first to settle in the match, were all out to increase City Greens woes, who failed to live up to its reputation of beautiful brand of football especially when playing against a team that was plying its trade in the second tier football leaque for the first time.

Santa Green wasted no time and did not show City Greens any respect neither as they immediately mounted insurmountable pressure on their opponents.
Gofamodimo Samuel failed to give his side a deserved lead in the 5th minute from the resultant free kick as his shot went over the bar.

Eleven minutes later, Mazema Gabohole header went wide across City Green goals after yet another infringement by City Green side that was physical in the middle of the park.

However, City Greens, who were slowly warming up to the encounter, were able to contain the more agile and hungry Mahalapye side.

Attempts by City Greens to fight their way back into the match did not produce any results thanks to indecision by the Francistown based outfit forwards.

They failed to bury even clear cut chances, much to the chagrin of the few fans that were rooting for them.

The Mafia side easily snatched ball and penetrated the opponents defense with ease something that left the opponents in disarray and lost composure.

It seemed Lady luck was not on City Greens side as their attempts were either dealt with by Santa Green who were now defending in numbers most of the second half.

The new entrants shot stopper who was given a yellow card earlier on by referee Moemedi Tlhabologang attracted the wrath of the match official yet again for time wasting in the 22nd minute of the second half and was sent packing.

Santa’s bench had no choice but to take out Rathipana and bring in second choice goal keeper, Kedumetse Maoto.

However, City Greens last substitute, Bokang Malabola saved mamoja disk total embarrassment buy scoring from a direct free kick just on the edge of the penalty area.

City Greens coach, Johnson Moisakwena said in a post-match interview that the loss called for introspection and sharpen its striking force.

“Defense wise we are ok and the only area that needs to be sharpened is at the front, our strikers are goal shy,” he said.

Santa’s gaffer, Kabelo Sephatla said the fact that his charges were playing against a team that has not been doing well was trouble by itself.

Sephatla felt his team lacked the usual coordination; something he attributed to the break they had. All in all, he was happy that his team managed to crab the maximum points despite playing with one man down. ENDS