City Polar shrug off pressure

Larona Makhaiza | Tuesday November 14, 2023 16:00

Olebile said this time around the club is still dealing with some internal issues, which continue to affect performance on the field of play. “We are not under pressure to be fighting for something. This is the team that had a lot of issues before the season commenced.

I am talking about internal issues,” Olebile stated. He stressed that City Polar’s fanatics should be patient with him as he is still rebuilding the team after losing several key players.He said he is fairly working with new players. “I am building a new team hence I could not put pressure on the boys because obviously there is nothing to fight for,” Olebile said.

In addition, Olebile echoed that he just wants his players to enjoy football and account for their mistakes.

The game started on fast pace with Magosi’s speedy wingers causing havoc on Polar’s defence. Despite Magosi’s dominance in the game, their chance at goal only came on the 23rd minute with Malvern Moyo combining well with target man, Adam Tende, whose effort narrowly went wide. Magosi did not take their foot off the pedal as they kept on applying pressure. On the 27th minute, Jackie Tapologo located isolated Tende with line breaking pass but Tende failed to beat the goalkeeper on a one-on-one situation.

It took Polar 31 minutes to have their first clear cut chance at goal. Winger, Golesedi Motlopi, cut inside the box and hit a powerful shot at goal, but goalkeeper Tshenolo Letshelea denied him brilliantly. With three minutes to half time, One Mooketsane faced goalkeeper Mbati Sethole on a one-on-one situation. Instead of him taking the shot, he placed it for on-rushing Tende who bottled the chance. On the brink of halftime, Chiefs' tenacity was finally rewarded with a goal. Outside the box, Tapologo became courageous and hit a long-range powerful shot which left goalkeeper Sethole startled.

Magosi sought to extend their lead on the 53rd minute but Mooketsane was denied by the upright. Two minutes later, it was the home side that caused an upset. After a beautiful build up, Polar managed to find the equalising goal courtesy of Miguel Kgomo who hit a powerful shot that came off the back of goalkeeper Letshelea after hitting the woodwork. The goal for Polar seemed to kill the self esteem of Letshelea as he started fumbling on catching balls. The two teams kept going at each other looking for a winning goal but their efforts were fruitless as the Kgatleng derby ended in a draw. Meanwhile, Magosi head coach, Oupa Kowa was impressed with his side’s performance despite the game ending in a draw. He, however, singled out the keeper’s mistakes as the downfall of the team in the match. “We played really well looking at how we did not train the whole week. But in the second half, we did not start well and our goalkeeper was very jittery. I cannot understand why. I am scratching my head but nevertheless we managed to get out of that period but during that period unfortunately our goalkeeper made an error,” he said.

The teams

City Polar: Mbati Sethole, Kealeboga Koko, Botshelo Tiro, Tumisang Mokopi, Arthur Coetzee, Loago Mangadi, Golesedi Motlopi, Katlego Bogatsu (Tedi Gunda), Morapedi Kengaletswe, Boikobo Kebafedile (Onalenna Khuta), Chabaesele Mositwane (Miguel Kgomo) Center Chiefs: Tshenolo Letshelea, Happy Pilane, Thabang Batlhokile, Ontiretse Morotsi, Kagiso Molapi, Thapelo Thebeyagae, Malvern Moyo (Ofentse Chitufu), Jackie Tapologo, Adam Tende (Remmington Masuku), Koos Matlala (Kakanyo Kethubilwe), One Mooketsane (Bakang Leshona).

City Polar 1 (Letshelea OG 55th) Centre Chiefs 1 (Tapologo 45th)