By Chris Totobela
A handful of football supporters braved the scorching sun on Saturday, 20 January 2024, and made their way to Rhodes University’s Kings Field. On show was the Hollywood Bets regional league doubleheader.
First up in the lunchtime kick-off was the local derby that featured hosts Jacaranda Aces against City Pirates. This end-to-end encounter ended in a stalemate as Pirate’s Aviwe Klaas cancelled out debutant Mahle Sauti’s spot-kick conversion.
In the main game of the weekend, newcomers Young Eagles hosted title contenders United Eleven from Bathurst in a thrill-a-minute game. Young Eagles took the game to United from the first whistle, and their short inter-passing caught United’s defence wanting at times. Their high-pressing game disrupted the visitors’s usual patient build-up game. Eagles were finally rewarded for their excellent start when Olwethu Flek found himself unmarked in the box after a defence-splitting cross and slotted the ball home to open the scoring.
Rattled by that tenth-minute goal, United started finding each other, putting the Eagles under pressure. United were caught with an explosive attack on their right side of defence and were unfortunately forced to foul the Eagles winger inside the box, and the referee did not hesitate to point to the spot. Lubabalo Papu dusted himself off and had his shot against the upright.
Eagles took their one-goal lead to the halftime break. In the second half, United started stronger and forced the Eagles to play on the back foot. United equalised when Eagles failed to deal with a dangerous cross into the box. United piled on the pressure and took the lead in the 65th minute. The home side made three changes simultaneously, but unfortunately, these changes did not positively impact the game. Eagles were very fortunate when they were awarded a spot kick in the 78th minute after a United defender allegedly handled the ball in the penalty area. This time, Owam Fani found the back of the net and levelled matters.
The game halted for a good twenty minutes when a scuffle broke between United’s bench and the first assistant referee after two opposing players collided. The home side player seemed to lead with an elbow that caught the United player in the face. The referee managed to calm down the situation and sent off Lubabalo Papu for dangerous play.
The game resumed, and the ten Eagles’ men held on for a few minutes before being caught with a quick counterattack, resulting in a third goal for the visitors. Eagles missed a glorious opportunity when their attacker headed over the crossbar with the goal mouth wide open and the goal minder well beaten with only six minutes left on the clock.
The referee blew his final whistle, with United Eleven taking home the maximum points to keep their title hopes alive. Talking to Grocott’s Mail after the game, Eagles coach Mxolisi “Bashin” Dlengezele was concerned about his charges performance. “We had chances to bury the game in the first half but failed to do so. These boys are still young, and they will learn from these mistakes. This is our third loss in a row, and this means that there is something that we are not doing right, but we will go back to training and rectify it,” said Dlengezele.
He also complained about poor officiating. ” The match officials could have done better than this, and the third goal that we conceded was supposed to be a foul for us as one of our central defenders was clearly fouled in front of the referee but, for some reason, decided to ignore it but this is part of the game although these decisions cost us a lot,” he said.
It was an exciting game for the football fans, and the home team will only have themselves to blame as they had their opponents against the ropes but let them off the hook.
