'It’s a huge loss' – Gunners on Pepezino move
Kabelo Boranabi | Wednesday January 26, 2022 16:38
Mokoke will be number two to South African tactician, Morena Ramoreboli and replace veteran coach, Oris Radipotsane who has since been deployed to the development structures.
Pepezino’s stay at Gunners has been short-lived but attained a ‘messiah’s status at the club. Mokoke joined Gunners in November for his second stint. The team was sitting at the bottom of the log without a goal and a point after four games. Mokoke led the team in 11 games, winning seven and losing four times. Under his watch, Mapantsula moved from the foot of the table to just a place shy of the top eight. Gunners are now ninth on the log, level points with eighth-placed Morupule Wanderers on 21 points. Speaking to Mmegi Sport, Gunners’ public relations officer, Oarabile Kgosiesele said the club has kick-started the process of finding a new coach.
He admitted that Mokoke left a very big void to fill. “It will be hard to replace someone like him. Firstly for the job he has done with the team, looking at the position he found us in him and where he leaves us. Secondly, our team has had a history of frictions between players and coaches but we did not have those with him. His management skills were top and you could see how he interacted with the players and how they responded, he was more of a relaxed father figure.” “So losing someone like him will be very hard to take.
You could see even after our win yesterday, the players’ morale was low. But as a club, we pride ourselves on the fact we approached him when he was not active and after a short period with us, he managed to catch the clubs’ eyes. It’s an opportunity for him to grow as a person and as a coach, we would be happy and pride ourselves with the fact that Gunners is part of his coaching development,” Kgosiesele said. In his last game, Mokoke led Gunners to a hard-fought 3-2 win over Prisons XI as the team inched closer to a top-eight spot.
In other games, Police XI held leaders Gaborone United (GU) to a 1-1 draw, which saw the Reds stretch their lead to eight points. Galaxy moved to sixth spot with a resounding 6-1 over Mogoditshane Fighters while Orapa United beat Security Systems 2-0 to stay fifth. Masitaoka are back to winning ways with a 3-1 win against strugglers, Mahalapye Railway Highlanders.