30 Jan 2023

 Nico United’s first half substitutes, Brendon Chinyani and Oratile Mhaladi, earned their team a vital point against Jwaneng Galaxy in Selebi Phikwe on Saturday.

Perhaps sensing they had a chance against a team they revered for its current run, Nico bench sent in Chinyani and Mhaladi in the 40th minute to correct what Thatayaone Magazi and Johnson Kepaletswe lacked offensively.

The move paid dividends as the two substitutes, each registered their names on the score sheet to earn Majombolo a crucial point.

In a game marked by notable blunders leading to two-all draw, Galaxy’s Thabang Sesinyi headed home from close range after Nico’s goalkeeper Thero Seremane failed to deal with a cross.

However, Chinyani hit an open net to draw level for the copper-nickel mining town club.

Galaxy’s Karabo Gaolebale left his posts to close-in on a ball that was way out of his reach leading to Chinyani scoring with relative ease.

 With just 10 minutes into the second half Galaxy’s substitute Wendell Rudath benefited from Nico’s failure to clear their line.

He hit the roof of the net, leaving Seramane rooted on his goalline.

However, Mhaladi powered home an equaliser following yet another mistake by Galaxy defence.

Fortunate Thulare, in his attempt to clear the lines, of course from an innocuous-looking ball, he shot the ball high up towards his keeper.

Sensing danger, Gaolebale rushed, unchallenged, to parry the ball on the way of Mhaladi who slotted home the last of the four-goal thriller.

After the match, while Nico assistant coach Monametsi Kelebale found the draw a ‘morale booster’ into the next game, while Galaxy’s Morena Ramoreboli was a disappointed gaffer.

Although the two gaffers were disappointed in the manner their players applied themselves, Ramoreboli thought they had ‘dropped two points.’

With their rich run in the 2022/23 season, the 2019/20 BTC champions, Galaxy were hurt by a draw against a team from which every team plucked maximum points.

“You can’t be happy when you play a draw against a team that has not been doing well, but there’s nothing we can do...we must take results as they’re and correct our mistakes because there were a lot of errors which I believe need us to correct,” said Ramoreboli.

He refrained from censuring his boys guilty of the errors that led to the goals. He portioned the blame across the whole team.

“The team as a whole, makes mistakes and we should all take the blame,” said the Galaxy coach.

The coach already has his next game in his head.

The mistakes which led to sharing spoils with NICO are an assignment to Ramoreboli in his preparations for the next game.

“We will continue doing things we always do, but we will try to put more emphasis in terms of how we should avoid conceding while also working on how we should try and convert opportunities,” said Ramoreboli, adding the more a team scored the better chances of winning games.

For his part, Kelebale was satisfied with a draw. To him a draw was better than an outright loss.

Although the draw against Galaxy was a glimmer of hope for a side teetering on dangerous grounds, Kelebale was disappointed that his team conceded goals in the very fashion he forewarned his boys.

“We watched their game against Masitaoka and prepared for their long, diagonal balls. However, we conceded goals from these balls I had talked about prior to this game...they punished us,” Kelebale said.

Though he came short of lauding his opponents, Kelebale was relieved that they managed a point ‘against a team of Galaxy’s caliber’ which had been positing impressive results.

“I’m happy with a point, but I’m a little disappointed because we could have won had we converted those two counterattacks in the second half,” said Kelebale.

A point against Galaxy would be a ‘morale booster going to Police,’ according to Kelebale.

However, Majombolo would not rely solely on the draw, but would ‘prepare thoroughly well’ as they seek to forge an escape plan from the sharp relegation axe. ENDS