Wednesday’s Grahamstown high schools soccer league fixtures acted as a final as the top two sides, Nombulelo Secondary School and TEM Mrwetyana Secondary School.
Wednesday’s Grahamstown high schools soccer league fixtures acted as a final as the top two sides, Nombulelo Secondary School and TEM Mrwetyana Secondary School.
These teams went into the match with 22 and 23 points respectively, meaning Nombulelo needed to win the match in order to win the league while Mrwetyana only needed a draw to be crowned league champions.
A third interested party, Mary Waters Secondary School, was also in attendance as they were tied with Mrwetyana at the top of the log on 23 points, wanting to confirm their final log position after the final whistle.
Mawas were hoping that Nombulelo will lose the match so they could finish second on the final standings, while a draw or a win for Nombulelo would see Mawas finishing third.
The match got off to a slow start in a drizzle. Nombulelo launched a wave of attacks making their intentions clear that they wanted to win, while TEM Mrwetyana were happy to sit back and defend in numbers.
The first half did not produce any sparks, although Nombulelo was caught on counter on two occasions, but Mrwetyana’s front men seemed nervous in front of the goal posts and did not trouble the Nombulelo keeper.
The score at the halftime break was 0-0. The start of the second half saw Nombulelo continuing with their attacks, with most of the second half spent in Mrwetyana’s territory.
Nombulelo thought they finally broke Mrwetyana’s defence when their stiker, Lelethu received a ball in the goal area unmarked and slotted it in the far corner, only for referee, Thembani Adam, who was close by, blew for offside against Nombulelo.
The referees’ decision did not break Nombulelo’s spirit as they kept pushing forward, exploiting a flat left side of Mrwetyana’s defence.
In the last attack of the match Nombulelo’s left back, FIRST NAME Monwabisi, made a great overlapping run leaving three opponents on the floor, got in the box and chipped the ball over the oncoming keeper, unfortunately his effort went inches over the crossbar.
It was after this attack that the final whistle was blown signalling an end to a great schools soccer season. The whistle was met with jubilation and excitement from Mrwetyana’s players and faithful supporters.
