04 Dec 2019

The Royal Aria stadium erupted into wild celebrations when the BTC Premiership fixture between Township Rollers and Jwaneng Galaxy lived up to its billing.

At the end of the intense 90 minutes, it was Popa Popa, as Rollers are affectionately known to legion of fans, who remained victorious after staging an impressive comeback.

Three second half goals were enough to seal the hard fought victory for the Blues.

Earlier, Patrick Kaunda had silenced Mapalastina with a nippy shot that beat goalkeeper Kabelo Dambe to give the visitors an early lead.

It was an end to end attack from both sides but Dambe, who had a bad day in office, failed to stop an easy curling strike from Takunda Sadiki who extended the visitors lead in the 22nd minute.

The two goals cushion did not unsettle the home side but buoyed them on to find their usual tempo.

The introduction of last week’s hat trick hero, Tumisang Orebonye for the ineffective Arnold Mampori, paid dividends as Rollers immediately pressed forward in numbers.

The two teams were forced to replace their goalkeepers who sustained injuries.

Dambe limped off and Keeagile Kgosipula came in while Katlego Mbise was taken to hospital and replaced by Anthony Gouws.

Ofentse Nato nodded from inside the box to reduce the deficit. With 20 minutes remaining, a nicely floated corner from far right was headed in by the exciting youngster, Onkarabile Ratanang to level matters.

Galaxy struggled to deal with Rollers set pieces and paid a huge price when Nato completed his brace with the easiest of taps to seal a hard fought victory for his team.

In other league matches played same night, Extension Gunners registered their second consecutive loss against the marauding league front runners, Security Systems, in Lobatse.

Veteran striker, Ronald Chikomo and Michael Pillar were on target for the alarm boys.

BR Highlanders got a rude awakening against visiting Gaborone United when they succumbed to an embarrassing 2-6 loss.

After enduring a tough spell in top flight league, Notwane won 3-1 to register their first ever maximum points against Miscellaneous. BOPA