Fighters savour Chiefs victory

BOITUMELO KHUTSAFALO
Staff Writer | Sunday May 26, 2013 00:00

 

Fighters displayed one of their best performances this season on Sunday and scored three crucial away goals, leaving favourites, Chiefs with a mountain to climb.

'We knew they have skillful players and we did not want to give them too much room to move because that could hurt us. We had anticipated to see the likes of Pontsho (Moloi) in their line up and he was not there so that also worked for us,' Mmesi told Mmegi Sport yesterday. He is of the view that Chiefs undermined them and did not give their all in that match. 'With due respect, I think they won the match before they played it. They are a very good side and on paper they had an upper hand before that match,' he added. Of the eight teams in the competition, Fighters were seen as the weakest side because of their current position on the log and Chiefs were poised to have it easy in the quarterfinals.  Ofana Motsumi scored two goals with James Moloi netting the third to hand Chiefs their second defeat of the season. Zimbabwean midfielder, Elvis Meleka scored Chiefs only goal of the match in the dying minutes.

Mmesi pointed out that their positive start offensively led to the first goal, which eased pressure on their side. He said their main focus however remains avoiding relegation. Fighters are currently placed at position 15 on the Premier League table with 16 matches played. It was their second match of the week, having lost 2-1 to BMC during midweek. 'Our mandate is to avoid relegation irrespective of whether we beat Chiefs or not.  We are in a rebuilding process which I hope goes well,' he said. Fighters have managed to secure the services of two experienced players, Powell Abednico and Bernard Semakwenzi couple of young players during the January transfer window. Both Abednico and Semakwenzi had a fantastic match against Chiefs. 'Powell played well and you could see that he is hungry because he has not been playing at Township Rollers for sometime. Semakwenzi might not have scored a goal for us yet, but he is also doing well up front. We are now able to whip in crosses because of his strength in the box,' he added. Fighters will now go into the second leg of the knockout competition as favourites after the famous victory.

Chiefs on the other hand will be disappointed that their side on the brink of failing to win the competition twice. They were knocked out in the semi finals last season by ECCO City Greens. Defending champions, Township Rollers and Gaborone United (GU) have a slight advantage after their 2-1 victories over ECCO and Nico United respectively. The second leg of the quarterfinal matches will be played on the weekend of March 9 and 10.