12 Jan 2022

A late strike by Thero Setsile ensured that Gaborone United continued with their dominance in the premier league.

The Tuesday game against Orapa United at Itekeng Stadium started on a slow note as both teams seemed determined not to concede first.

The visiting Moyagoleele started building from the back, something that did not threaten the solid Ostriches defence.

The Ostriches, on one hand, missed their key strikers, Mbatsi Elias and Onkabetse Makgantai due to poor health and they fielded inexperienced new players.

The game went for recess with no goal scored.

However, the Reds came back more determined from the half-time break after bringing in Tshepo Malgas for Karabo Phiri .

The tweak worked wonders for the visitors as the Reds started to put more pressure on the home side defence and looked likely to score, but were thwarted by Ostriches’ alive defence.

Just before the final whistle, Setsile ensured maximum points for GU by scoring the winner for the visitors.

In an interview, GU coach Innocent Morapedi, said it was crucial to know the difference between chasing the game and closing the game.

“Persistence is key, you need to persist to pursue a goal,” he said.

Morapedi said he was pleased with the score line, saying his boys played well considering that they played on Saturday.

He said his team had always believed that they would win and added that they had to wait for their opportunity to score a goal.

On their first half performance, Morapedi said they did not want to put too much pressure on the players.

For his part, the Ostriches coach Teenage Mpote, said although they conceded a goal, his boys played  well

Mpote said he was playing with young boys who had just been promoted, adding that the idea was to give them a chance to play.

The plan was to catch the opponents on counter attacks as we could not penetrate their defence.

He said the objective was to concentrate on the remaining games.ENDS