Gunners Win One-Day Tourney

Tumelo Mouwane | Monday August 14, 2017 15:14

 

Extension Gunners were victorious in the one-day pre-season tournament on Saturday

The one-day tournament featured Premier League sides; Township Rollers, Extension Gunners, Black Forest and Police XI.

The Peleng side opened the tournament with a 4-3 win over Black Forest to proceed to the final. The game was decided through penalties after a highly contested opening match, which had ended in a 1-1 in normal time. Zebron Njobvu scored for Magoleng whilst Ofentse Mmipi secured an equaliser for Gunners.

Mapalastina secured a spot in the finals after defeating a tough Police XI side 1-0 through Lemponye Tshireletso’s solitary strike from the penalty spot. In a fairly contested losers’ final, Police XI proved their superiority by beating Magoleng 1-0 to claim the third spot.

The final match of the day between Rollers and Mapantsula started on high tempo with both sides looking for an early opener.

The two rivals equally enjoyed ball possession, but Rollers were more superior in terms of chances created. However, Oteng Legopelo and Desire Bafana were solid at the back for Gunners. With numerous counter attacks initiated from both wings, Rollers looked more composed and dominant midway in the first stanza.

Muthusi Cooper and Mandla Mgadla’s combination also looked promising for Gunners, but both sides could not find the back of the net in the first half.

In the second half, Gunners came back more composed and managed to put pressure on Mapalastina. Gunners’ head coach, Itumeleng Duiker immediately made a substitution with Mgadla making way for Brian Makunga who played his first game for Gunners. As the game approached its end, the Peleng side looked more forceful but Mampule Masule was equal to the task in Rollers’ goalposts.

Duiker said he was satisfied with the performance of his squad especially that the tournament was used to test players.

“I can say my squad played very good. This is a tournament used to test players’ capabilities and we cannot complain.

Our squad is preparing itself for the coming season and we are hopeful that we will be ready to compete adequately when the league begins,” he said.

Rollers head coach, Nikola Kavazovic said they have noted where to improve. He said his players generally played better football.

“We did very well. Our players played better football than all the four teams and that is what makes us happy,” he said.

 

Rollers (0) 

Gunners (0) (3-4) (Pen)