09 Apr 2024

Orapa United bagged three points after defeating Police XI 2-0 during a Premier League encounter at the VTM Arena in Gamodubu on Saturday. The Ostriches first goal came from the speedy striker, Erick Ookame in the 52nd minute as he caught Police XI defence napping. A few minutes later, a cross from Gofaone Mabaya found Kelvin Bingala in the 18th area and scored a low-cut cross header that deepened Police XI woes. In a post match interview Orapa United head coach, Gadimang Tiiso said they were happy to have won the game even though Police XI gave them a hard time. He said they knew that they would be playing against a difficult opponent and in the first half they could not penetrate their defence despite some scoring opportunities created. Tiiso said their player maker, Mabaya was not visible in the first half, which forced his side to change the game plan during the second half to enable them to open Police XI defence and score their first goal of the match. He acknowledged that it was never easy to play against Police IX, but the Ostriches began to prove their mettle in the second half, creating many opportunities that could have seen them score more than two goals. He praised his players, in particular the player of the match, Bingala, who had a wonderful game and created several goal chances. Tiiso said usually the second round of the league was tough as every team wanted to earn important points adding that their win meant a lot. The Jungle Kings coach, Nelson Olebile said despite having a great team that could deliver, ‘today we had a bad game’. He said they did not start the game well in terms of their fluidity, passes, decision-making and their transition was caught wanting, which made it difficult for them to create solid chances. Olebile said if the players applied the principles of attacking as a team and defending as one, they would be speaking of a different outcome at the end of the game. Nevertheless, he said in the first half they played against the wind and his players gave their opponents enough space that gave them confidence, but they managed to come back and create chances, which they failed to utilise. He said in football if chances were not utilised, ‘your opponents will punish you’ and in this case Orapa United came back in the second half and caught them off-guard. Olebile said going forward there was a lot to learn from the game. BOPA