Gunners, Bristol brawl leaves sour taste
Boitumelo Khutsafalo | Thursday July 24, 2014 11:44
The friendly game, played at the National Stadium on Monday, saw Gunners defender, Gabriel Bokhutlo lunge at Karleigh Osborne leaving him heavily bruised on the shin in the closing stages of an entertaining encounter.
The English side won 3-0.
Bokhutlo’s challenge sparked a mass brawl from both camps and the match ended before normal time. Bristol City officials withdraw their players in protest.
Referee, Joshua Bondo had no choice but to end the match. City were leading 3-0 with a few minutes remaining and were declared champions. The injury seems to have left City officials disappointed particularly the coach, Steve Cotterill. “I don’t want to go into it too much, but if Karleigh’s foot had been planted, he might not have played again. At the end of the day, you have to be men in football and my boys were tremendous with regards to that. But there comes a point in a pre-season game where the going gets and it is just as well the referee blows the whistle,” Cotterill was quoted as saying after the match.
Gunners’ coach, Dragojlo Stanojlovic was also disappointed with the turn of events and said the match should not have ended that way. The match was the first of its kind in the country where a local side played a friendly against an English side. City will play against Zebras today as part of their country tour.
Against City, Gunners had the chance to throw in their new signings before the Barclays Kabelano Charity Cup. Former BMC defender, Tshepo Maikano seems to have fitted in quickly at the heart of Gunners defence if his performance against City was anything to go by. Maikano partnered Desire Bafana in the defence and looked the perfect replacement for Musa Ohilwe who has since joined Jwaneng Galaxy Stars.
Another new signing, Isaac Paeye played in front of the defence. Paeye joined Gunners recently from Notwane. Former Gaborone United (GU) winger, Venture Ngwako also makes his return to the elite league and had a relatively good game on Monday.
Moemedi Moatlhaping played for Gunners before being substituted late in the second half, paving way for another new signing, Unobatsha Mbaiwa. Moatlhaping had a tough time against big Bristol City defenders and was given little room to test City goalkeeper.
Despite the 3-0 defeat at the hands of visiting British side, Gunners are expected to be serious contenders for silverware in the coming season.