Nico, TAFIC on the rise

MOGOMOTSI BUZWANI
Correspondent | Tuesday December 7, 2010 00:00

The two lightweights have been struggling for most of the first round until recently when they revived their fortunes admirably to rise to the top half of the log.

Nico are now in contention for the title after they jumped to fourth spot with 25 points, just eight away from faltering leaders, Township Rollers.

This is a major transformation given that only last month, the pride of Selebi-Phikwe soccer was languishing at the wrong end of the table in position 12th and battling a coaching crisis after the suspension of Willard Mashinkila-Khumalo.

The Zimbabwean coach was eventually dismissed leaving 'inexperienced' assistant, Toba Mothuba, in charge. But under the caretaker coach, Nico overcame the turmoil and notch wins over Uniao Flamengo Santos, Black Peril, Gaborone United (GU) and Extension Gunners.

Victory over the two giants - GU and Gunners - have made other teams in the league take notice of Majombolo whose new coach, Elijah Chikwanda, is waiting for his papers to be sorted out. Mothuba told Mmegi Sport that the new strategies he introduced in the team are working. 'I made them believe in themselves, they are at par with other players in the league,' Mothuba said.

He said sponsorship from BCL mine is motivating the players and the team is going for the league title. 'The BCL sponsorship is motivating players who are working hard. We are fighting for the championship just like other top teams,' Mothuba said.

In Francistown, TAFIC are rejuvenated under veteran coach, Paul Moyo. They are seventh after their weekend win over debutants, Black Peril. TAFIC were unbeaten in November, after they beat Police XI, Santos and Gunners.

After the game against Peril over the weekend, Moyo said he was happy with his players' progress. However, he was not impressed with the way they missed several chances in the match.

'Though we won, we missed several chances. But at least we are moving forward and the maximum points we got in the past few games is something. I am working on some defensive mistakes,' said Moyo.

At the top, Rollers continued to falter and were saved from a second consecutive defeat with a second half equaliser from Thando Moreki against TASC. For the second week running, ECCO City Greens failed to take advantage of Rollers' slip as they slumped to a successive defeat at the hands of debutants, Miscellaneous.

Other contenders, Mochudi Centre Chiefs and GU, dropped points after playing to 1-1 draws against Notwane and BDF XI respectively.

At the bottom, Miscellaneous did themselves a huge favour with the win over ECCO, while Motlakase's temporary respite was halted following a 2-1 defeat to Santos. TASC are anchoring the 16-team while Motlakase dropped to 15th spot.