By Chris Totobela
The enthusiastic football lovers braved the rain and made their way to JD Dlepu Stadium for the final showdown of the Superbowl easter soccer tournament. First up was the third and fourth-place play-off between Rhodes University and Makana Tigers.
After the game ended in a one-all stalemate, Makana Tigers emerged as 4-2 winners via a penalty shoot-out. In the main game of the day, overwhelming favourites Maru FC came up against one of Makhanda’s oldest clubs, XI Attackers who are slowly finding their form that made them one of the giants of local football.
Attackers took the game to Maru from the first whistle, and their high pressing prevented Maru from building from the back. Maru’s goalkeeper made some brilliant saves to keep his team in the game. The game went to the halftime break goalless.
Maru changed to another gear in the second half and came up with attacks of their own that unsettled Attackers’ defence. Maru took the lead from the penalty spot via the boot of Vuyani Skeyi, who made no mistake. Attackers went in search of an equaliser but were caught with a quick counterattack that found Attackers defence in sixes and sevens and were made to pay as the Maru striker fired a rocket into the top of the net and left the keeper for dead to double the lead.
Credit to the Attackers’ team who never dropped their heads as they kept on fighting and were rewarded when a shot from their left back deflected from a Maru defender and found the back of the net to reduce the deficit. Maru nearly stretched their lead from a restart as one of their midfielders took a shot from the centre line that narrowly went over the crossbar. Attackers threw everything at Maru in search of an equaliser, but Maru’s defence stood firm and breathed a sigh of relief as the final whistle went off.
Maru were crowned champions and went home with a trophy, gold medals and whooping R50 00 0 while Attackers took home the consolation prize of silver medals and R15 000. It was a very good game of football that could have easily gone either way, and the fans enjoyed every minute of it. The referee did a good job. It was a big game that needed a well-experienced referee, but he handled it very well despite making a few errors here and there.
