'Tse Ditona' set to prevai in Top 8

FREDERICK KEBADIRETSE
Staff Writer | Friday April 27, 2012 00:00

 

Mochudi Centre Chiefs, ECCO City Greens, Township Rollers and Gaborone United (GU) find themselves one foot in the semi finals after registering home victories in the first leg three weekends ago. It is now time for Nico, BMC, BDF XI and Uniao Flamengo Santos to turn around their fortunes as they hosts this weekend's reverse fixtures if they still fancy their chances of winning the knockout cup which carries a P1 million cash prize.

BMC vs ECCO (Lobatse)BMC has a mountain to climb after losing the first leg match 3-1 in Francistown. The two meet at the Lobatse Council Stadium tomorrow. BMC mentor Daniel 'Chico' Nare knows very well that netting two goals will not be an easy task. 'We are trailing from the first leg but we cannot just give up.  We will be playing at home so we will fight to reverse the outcome. If we can score one or two goals without them replying, then we might pull it off, but it is going to be very difficult,' Nare told Mmegi Sport on Wednesday. ECCO, despite having a lukewarm season will surely provide a stern test for Nare's charges. While BMC have not been finding the back of the net regularly recently, ECCO have been scoring with ease. They netted four against GU and BMC last month. Both sides' defences are not tight, a thing that may lead to another high scoring encounter.

BMC key players: Kenanao Kgetholetsile, Motsholetsi SikeleECCO key players: Patrick Lenyeletse, Nicholas MatlhareBDF XI vs Rollers (Molepolole)

Still tomorrow, BDF XI will be attempting to erase the two-goal deficit when they face Rollers after losing the first leg encounter 3-1. On their day, Rollers attack has proven to be a menace to any opposition defence, but their inconsistency lately leaves much to be desired. Thus Louis Setshwane's men might perform heroics and proceed to the semis. The league is almost out of Rollers' reach and coach Stanley Mwaanga would be looking forward to the Top8 cup to finish the season with some silverware.

BDF key players: Molatedi Mabina, Lemponye TshireletsoRollers key players: Mogakolodi Ngele, Ntesang SimanyanaNICO vs Chiefs (Selebi-Phikwe)

Nico coach, Elijah Chikwanda made no secret when he declared that his side will score five goals past Mochudi Centre Chiefs in the return leg. Chiefs won the first leg match 5-2 and Nico will have to win the match by a margin of three goals to progress. Chikwanda's hopes will be raised after Chiefs recently showed that they are not invincible as many believed. The log leaders were on Sunday stunned by Mogoditshane Fighters 3-2 in a league encounter. In the quarterfinal first leg, Chiefs were leading 5-0 at halftime but allowed Nico to pull back two goals in the second half. Despite having the league's fiercest attack, Chiefs have been conceding a number of goals, a thing that has not been much concern to coach Madinda Ndlovu as they have been winning matches. Meanwhile, Ndlovu had said they would not look too much into the first leg result but rather take the game as it comes. 'We take every game as it comes, so there will be nothing special about the return leg,' Ndlovu said after the first leg match.

Nico key Players: Master Masitara, Bernard SimakwenziChiefs key players: Pontsho Moloi, Kekaetswe MoloiSantos vs Gaborone United (Molepolole)In the only game on Sunday, GU meet Uniao Flamengo Santos in what is still an open encounter in Molepolole.

GU holds a slim 1-0 lead into the second leg against a rather struggling Santos. GU should be thankful to an own goal by Kaizer Seforo as the match looked like it was heading for a draw. It however, looks like their season blues are over as they have registered a fourth straight victory in both league and cup games. This was after having a terrible start to the year that ended with coach, Elvis Chiweshe being shown the door. Santos, however, continue to struggle, but should find a way of overturning the margin in their favour to proceed to the semi-finals. Santos key player: Jackie Mothatego

GU key players: Ronald Chikomo, Sageby SandakaAll matches kick off at 3pm except Nico/Chiefs, which starts at 5pm