02 Dec 2013

Tonota FC played to a goalless draw with Debswana first division north log leaders, BR Highlanders on Saturday (November 30) at Rutwang community junior school grounds.

Highlanders started the game on a high note and their tactics worked well in the first minutes, which led to the hosts watching in amazement as they dictated the play.

The confidence from BR Highlanders players worked well for them as they managed to hold the ball for a long time but their finishing touches let them down. Despite the high tempo from the visitors, Tonota FC’s defence aquinted itself well and put the situation under control.

One of the players from Highlanders who proved to be a thorn in the hosts defence was Brian Kobe, a winger whose brilliant combination with Goememang Shawa was a threat but their efforts failed to produce any goals. In the second half Shawa who had proved to be lethal in attack and was a revelation on the side of the visitors was substituted in the 65th minutes for Baitshenyetsi Sabohole.

The move to replace him was not well received by the fans who believed that he was one of the key players who could end up finding the elusive goal in the tightly contested encounter.

On the other side, having read the game well and having managed to thwart all the attacks from the visitors, Tonota FC pushed to the maximum which saw their midfielder, Kemoreng Batisani produce a stunning shot on target which was the only one his team had in the entire game. However, his effort was punched by the goal keeper, Goaba Moreetsi to safety resulting in a corner kick for the hosts.

Tonota FC kept on asking more questions through Aubrey Ngakane`s creativity in the middle of the park but the response from the visitors side condemned all his efforts.

According to Tonota FC head coach, William Makhula the performance of the players showed a lot of improvement which was demonstrated by the type of play as it was more of attacking than defending.

He said his players had a lot of respect for their rivals who were recently relegated from the beMOBILE premier league. This, he noted, might have knocked some confidence from his players.

For his part, Highlanders coach, Paul Moyo said the game was a close encounter which saw all teams getting equal chances of winning the game. He noted that the point gained was crucial for them and in the upcoming games they hoped to continue with their winning ways as displayed in the previous games. ENDS