Rollers run riot amid sanctions
Larona Makhaiza | Wednesday December 3, 2025 09:07
Popa Popa’s emphatic victory came at a time when the side has been under scrutiny following disciplinary sanctions that saw three points deducted.
They were docked points for not honouring their fixture against Calendar Stars earlier this season after players downed tools over unpaid wages.
On Friday, the Botswana Premier League released a statement confirming the punishment against the Gaborone giants.
Besides being docked points, Rollers also received a fine of P1, 000. Additionally, 20 players who were registered to play on that day were found guilty of bringing the league into disrepute and were each issued with a formal warning.
Rollers was also hit by the departure of their head coach, Srdan Zivojnov who only joined the club towards the start of this season’s campaign citing hostile working conditions.
Despite all these developments, Popa have come out strong and delivered one of their best performances demonstrating authority in attack and composure in the midfield.
It did not take long in the game for Rollers to stamp their authority, breaking the deadlock two minutes into the game through the 21-year-old Thapelo Balatlheng.
Popa protected their lead until the last seconds before half time break with Sua leveling the scores.
The visitors caught Rollers’ defence on counter attack and Ramokgathani Ngwako made no mistake and converted the opportune chance.
Five minutes after the halftime break, Rollers reclaimed their lead through Philip Kaku to make it 2-1. On the 66th minute, Godfrey Tauyatswala joined the party by writing his name in the scoreboard to make it 3-1.
Roller did not put their foot off the pedal and incessantly probed for more goals on the night. Seven minutes before full time, Tauyatswala bagged his brace on the night with a well-laid ball that went past the keeper.
With only two minutes left, Kaku also got his brace on the night to make it 5-1 for Rollers on the night. Tauyatswala and Kaku’s braces and Balatlheng’s early strike sealed all the maximum points for Rollers on the night.
Rollers will finish the year on position six with 23 points while Sua sit fourth with 26 points.
Interim head coach, Oarabile Seabo, in his post match interview applauded his players for their professionalism, insisting that the dressing room remains unfazed by off the field tensions.
“Let us give credit to the boys, they have played their hearts out. “This was a very emotional game because we lost our coach and that was a heavy blow for us as he was very important on our team towards this process,” Seabo said.
Despite Seabo stating that coming into the fixture was a bit emotional, he highlighted that the team had to put all that behind and get the job done.
“We said to ourselves that this is part of the game and we needed to regroup, fight and make sure we deliver for the Blues at the end of the day. So we are happy with the performance,” he said.
The interim coach further stated that despite it all he is elated for the performance evidently because his forwards were clinical in front of the goals.
“We are happy with the performance just managing to score five goals after such a very long time. It was good especially when we are home in front of our supporters and we can only wish the best going forward,” he said.
With the team docked three points, Seabo said it does not concern them as their job is on the field and will leave everything to the administrators.
“The good thing is we have soldiers; soldiers that don’t care about what happens off the field. What matters is for us to come to training, give 100% in our games so all that is for the office not us,” he said.
Sua’s interim coach, Innocent Koti, was not pleased with the results and took all the blame on behalf of the team for the disappointing result.
“As a coach, I take the blame so that we are able to solve the problem and we wholly apologise to our fans, our leaders as we misrepresented the team as we lost 5-1 after just beating Galaxy,” Koti apologised.
Rollers 5 (Balatlheng 2nd, Tauyatswala 83rd, 66th, Kaku 50th, 88th) Sua 1 Ngwako (45th)