SPTC spoils Real Movers� first match

Imi Mokgethi | Tuesday October 11, 2016 11:04

Speaking to Mmegi Sport after their match against Francistown’s Ecco City Greens on Saturday, which they lost 2-0, Leposo said the game was moved at the last minute from the stadium to Nico United grounds, as the stadium’s lawn was uncut and deemed unfit to host the match.

He added that they have long offered to assist the council in preparing the field, noting that their assistance was turned down, as the council did not want to share the costs that came with the assistance. “The council told us that their lawn cutting machine was not working, so we offered to lend them one that was supposed to be paid for. That is where the problem emerged as they did not want to share the cost of hiring that machine with us,” he said.

Selebi-Phikwe Stadium charge hand, Moitshoki Umangwa blamed communication breakdown, noting that they had accepted the assistance from Real Movers to cut the lawn.

“We had agreed to be assisted and we waited for the team on Friday morning to come to us with the machine, but they never showed up. It seems like the contact person from our side did not communicate the changes to us as we did not know the reason why they did not come,” he said. Umangwa said they have decided to borrow the cutting machine from Sowa town, stating that should everything go according to plan, the stadium will be ready for use by the end of the week.

Meanwhile, Leposo attributed their loss of the first game to his players’ fitness that he said was not up to standard. He added that it led to unnecessary errors that earned Mamoja Diskie all their two goals in the first half.

“The game was well balanced and we had better chances than our opponents, but we failed to convert those chances into goals. For our next game, our first priority is to work on our finishing. We cannot afford to lose another game consecutively,” said Leposo.

On the other hand, Ecco City Greens coach Texan Phiri could not hide his excitement after grabbing the three points in their first match of the new season.

He applauded his boys for a job well done, however stating that there is still room for improvement.

“I have not lost players from last season and today my team only had one new player. This has significantly contributed to our impressive play as I have been working with the boys for quite sometime and encouraging them to stay focused as the league’s commencement kept being postponed,” he said. Phiri further highlighted that their next game against Great North Tigers, which will be a Francistown derby is going to be a tough one, indicating that it needs thorough preparations.

“We displayed an outstanding performance last season though we failed to make it to the Premier League. It is for this reason that other teams in the league always come gun blazing when they face us. This motivates us to stay alert and focused all the time,” said the coach who was optimistic for a win.