Holy Ghost's title tilt faces Kgatleng hurdle
Kabelo Boranabi | Saturday May 14, 2022 06:00
The team is now five points away from climbing to the Premier League with only four rounds of the Debswana First Division South league games to be played. Last week, Holy Ghost opened a comfortable seven points lead at the top of the league standings. But the Holy Ghost title charge faces a hurdle in Kgatleng, as they face Matebele and Mochudi Centre Chiefs. The Holy Boys will be away to the land of Bakgatla two times, while they expect a visit from a Kgatleng side once in the remaining four games.
They begin with a visit to Matebele FC at the Nest grounds at Matebeleng village tomorrow. The tie promises to produce fireworks as the hosts are just a point adrift of the promotion playoffs spot. A win for Matebele will enhance their chances of landing the number two spot. Matebele are the most prolific team in the league having scored 31 goals and has the third-best defensive record with only four goals conceded. Matebele have been in impressive form of late as they remain the only lower-division side to reach the semi-finals of the FA Cup, and Kowa and his troops should be worried ahead of tomorrow’s tie.
From a trip to the Nest grounds, Holy Ghost will be home to second-placed Mochudi Centre Chiefs. Both sides are occupying the two promotional places and it is Magosi who will hope to reduce the gap to enhance their chances of automatic promotion. The Holy Boys will then head to Mochudi to face Mochudi Rovers in what looks like the easier of the three games as Rovers are struggling to get out of the relegation zone. The Mmopane-based side will end the league campaign against Taung Young Strikers.
“We now have a bigger gap between us and number two. It gives a bigger advantage overall. Are we happy? We are over the moon. This means now the road (to Premier League) is still bumpy but now smoother. It means that we have been put under pressure to stay in the position and finish it up. We are moving very slowly but surely toward achieving our objective, which was to win the championship. In the FA Cup, we wanted to go as far as we can but the ultimate goal was to win the championship. Forest and Chiefs have both given a fight, very good teams with good coaches and every time we play they wanted to take us off the top spot,” Kowa told the sister publication Monitor Sport after a 1-0 win over Forest the previous weekend.
Meanwhile, promotion hopefuls, Black Forest will welcome bottom-placed Motaung Young Fighters to the Black Forest grounds on Saturday afternoon while Chiefs will be involved in the Mochudi derby against Mochudi Rovers at the River Plate grounds. On Sunday afternoon, Red Sparks face visiting Uniao Flamengo Santos at the Red Sparks grounds. Matebejana and Broadhurst United meet at the SSG grounds as Tlokweng United take a trip to BeFree Park to take on Taung Young Strikers. All the games kick off at 3.30pm.