30 Jan 2023

Notwane’s 2-0 victory over Uniao Flamengo Santos saw the former leave Gabane United grounds on Saturday walking tall after collecting maximum points.

With Notwane going into the game at position six against a home team placed at position four on the First Division South league standings, many expected Notwane to have a mammoth task, but the encounter seemed easy when Botsile Sakana and Thabang Ofitlhile scored a goal each to lead their side to victory.

In a post-match interview, Notwane coach, Thaloba Nthaga, said they went into the game unintimidated by the log standings or the home fans.

“In every game we go for three points. I am happy that we controlled the game from the start and dealt with their long balls well in the first half. Towards the end of the second half we were more on to managing our lead as they tried to exert more pressure on us,” Nthaga said.

He said from the first games in the league, their main undoing was giving away too many goals from individual mistakes, something he said they had since dealt with.

He added that the approach to get maximum points in each game would also be the same when they face Black Forest next weekend in their last game of the first round.

“First division league is mostly won by between 40 to 45 points, so our target was to collect between 18 and 29 points first round. We are still on track, especially if we can beat Black Forest next weekend because that will leave us at 21 points,” he said.

On one hand, Santos’ gaffer, Otlaadisa Mohambi, said despite the loss, he was happy with the way his team played.

“We played well and were just unlucky in the first half to concede a goal after a small mistake. We had an upper hand in second half, only to concede a second one because we were under pressure to score,” he said.

Going forth, he said his team only needed a mindset change, something he was confident would be enough to bring results, although he also admitted that they needed to score more goals to relieve pressure from the defence.

Mohambi said his aim was to build a new Santos that would compete for the league honours next season, therefore he pleaded with supporters not to put the team under too much pressure.

“Our target is to finish on top four and I am confident we can achieve that. Play-offs would be a bonus though,” he said.

In other first division south games played over the weekend, VTM beat Matebejana 3-0 while Black Forest and Tlokweng United played to a 0-0 stalemate.

Matebele played to a 2-all draw against Young Stars while Black Rangers held log leaders, Crackit City Polar to a 1-all draw in Tsabong. ENDS