BDF VI Too Strong For Prisons VI
Tumelo Mouwane | Monday September 28, 2015 14:10
The warders spearheaded the first set and led 17-13 during a quick break. After the break, the Prisons side continued with their dominance, as BDF VI failed to catch up on points.
Prisons VI won the set by 25-20. For the first time in the match, BDF VI took the lead at the beginning of the second set through Theko Baruti’s unstoppable spike. In an eventful turn of events, the warders could not contain the army side and they increased the gap by three points. By the time the two sides went for a quick break, BDF VI were leading 7-4.
It proved that coach Selebatso Mabutho had mentored the army side with solid instructions during the set break. They left the Prisons side behind with a margin of six points midway through the second set. They continued to score points and won the second set 25-16. In the third set, BDF VI beefed up their squad and gave Prisons VI a hard task. The combination of Moemedi Siphambe, Moetse Kabo, Lakidzani James and Theko Baruti was too strong for Prisons. BDF VI led 14-6 midway through the third set. As the Prisons side became disgruntled towards the end of the third set, BDF VI took advantage and were at some point leading 19-9. They eventually won the set 25-12.
Prisons came back strongly in the fourth set, but the army side remained stronger. BDF VI won 25-17 and gave Prisons VI their second loss of the day. Prisons’ earlier loss was 0 -3 to Kutlwano. In another match, BDF VI were awarded soft points after Desert Kings failed to honour their fixture. Desert Kings head coach, Kambule Nunda expressed displeasure over their failure to honour their fixture against BDF VI. He said they only knew that their fixture had been rescheduled on Saturday morning.
“We only knew of fixture reschedule at 11.30am this morning (Saturday) when we were preparing to leave Molepolole,” he said. “Initially our game was scheduled to take place at 3pm and it was a surprise on our side to hear that BDF VI has been waiting for us.”
Nunda also said his club would register a protest against BDF VI because it was not the first time such incident took place.
He said: “We will appeal the decision because we were unaware of the change. These people said they sent a mail to us, but they should know that sometimes there are network problems. I was at the office yesterday, they could have informed me. This thing always happens when we play against BDF. We blame the organisers.” However, Mabutho said he did not see Desert Kings absence as an advantage. He said he was always going to win the match.
“I have confidence that I was going to overcome Desert Kings even if they were present,” he said. “I am here for nothing other than pocketing all the available points.”
Prisons head coach, Kelebogile Pebe also expressed dismay over the sudden change of fixtures. He partially blamed their loss on the fixture change. “Kutlwano is a very strong team and very technical,” he said. “I accept the defeat, but I blame part of it on immediate fixture change. We came here in a hurry.”