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Botswana: Rollers, Ecco Waste Chances
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Mmegi/The Reporter (Gaborone)
18 March 2008
Posted to the web 18 March 2008
Oarabile Mosikare
Francistown
An expected thriller between the defending champions ECCO City Greens and Township Rollers at the Francistown Stadium turned out to be a dull draw.
Both teams failed to capitalise on the chances they created. The first half belonged to Rollers while ECCO turned the tables after the break. During the first few minutes of the game, ECCO's left-winger Faith Keletso proved troublesome to Rollers' defenders. Despite the early scare, Mapalistina could have opened the scoring through Boitumelo Mafoko but his header went wide with ECCO goalkeeper Michael Onkutule clearly beaten. Most of Rollers' breakthroughs were ruled offside with striker Bernard Semakwezi as the main culprit. ECCO's defence marshalled by Zecco Makafiri was caught napping most of the time. The less said about ECCO's midfield the better with the sensational Nicholas 'Mambush' Matlhare off-form. Mafoko had a fantastic game as he penetrated ECCO midfield with ease and this forced the evergreen striker Malepa Bolelang to drop back. The defending champions could have sent Moses Pelaelo into the midfield but he stayed put at the back.
During the second half, both teams made substitutes with Semakwezi giving way to Moemedi 'Jomo' Moatlhaping. Rollers' supporters booed Semakwezi when he was substituted while the same treatment was meted by ECCO fans when Tshokolo Nkola replaced dangerous Keletso. Nkola is one of the most underrated midfielders in the country, though he has a lot of talent. He was very instrumental when ECCO rewrote history last season by bringing the Mascom Premier League title to the north for the first time.
After the game, Matlhare conceded that he was below par due to the fact that he was made to change roles. Usually he interchanges positions on the wings but that was not the case on Saturday. "I was not given a free role as always. The other thing is that I did not get much support from my team mates," said Matlhare. Overall he said as a team, they did not perform to standard because of injuries. Instrumental and seasoned campaigners like Mandlaenkosi 'Sukunyetsa' Sibanda and Robert Tamba are still nursing nagging injuries. This weekend ECCO will make the long trip to Gaborone to visit second placed Uniao Flamengo Santos.
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