By Chris Totobela
Makhanda’s City Pirates hosted ninth-placed Friendly City from Alicedale in a Hollywood Bets Regional League bottom-of-the-table encounter at JD Dlepu Stadium on Saturday.
The game was delayed for more than half-an-hour as there were no match officials. When the game finally kicked off, both sides struggled to put foot on the ball, unable to put three to four passes together.
However, making effective use of their wing play, Pirates took the lead when after their pacey left winger Aviwe “Hotto” Klaas took a powerful ground shot that was parried away by the goalkeeper but tapped home by Luvo Mbilise.
Friendly City seemed to be out of ideas as they struggled to get out of their own half, and when they did, seemed unsure what to do with the ball.
Pirates extended their lead via the left foot of Aviwe Klaas, who kept the visitors’ defence busy. Pirates took their two-goal lead into the halftime break.
In the second half, both teams made a few changes to personnel, but maintained their first half performances. Both teams were guilty of giving away possession unnecessarily.
Pirates went on to score two more goals, thanks to Sibulele Ndibaza and Aviwe Klaas. Klaas’ ‘rocket’ left the substitute goalkeeper with no chance.
The home side held on to their lead until the final whistle.
The game did not leave up to the enthusiasm of the large crowd that turned up on the day. Pirates could have easily scored 10 goals in the game but their lack of killer instinct showed why they are languishing at the bottom half of the table.
Speaking to Grocott’s Mail after the game, newly-appointed head coach Masixole Adonis was not pleased with his charges. “We won the game but I’m not satisfied with the way we played. We did not play the way we trained. We failed to punish a team that gave us a lot of spaces to attack them. In the first half alone, we could have scored five to six goals. If we are serious about competing in this league we need to be ruthless in front of goal, especially when playing against such teams.”
Adonis also responded to the public outcry of the team’s leaking defence. “We play with a different back four in every game and I don’t know why my players are choosing games. We will work on this at training.
“Our main aim at the moment is to try and survive, and given the chance by management, I will try and reinforce the squad and compete for the title.”
Pirates are in serious trouble as they are sitting just third from bottom on the log.
In the other game played at Rhodes University, log leaders Maru FC collected maximum points as they eased past Junior Sundowns by three unanswered goals.
