24 Nov 2024

Matebele FC has trounced Extension Gunners 2-1 on Saturday evening at the National Stadium, making the Lobatse giants to suffer their fourth defeat in the FNB Premiership.

Two goals from Emmanuel Thabe and Boy Lechaena in a space of 10 minutes were enough to seal victory for Matebele.

Despite responding with a penalty kick from Raymond Bogatsu, Matebele resisted Gunners’ attack, defended their lead and secured the valuable three points.

After six matches, Gunners has only registered six points from a possible 18, while Matebele has managed to accumulate seven from the same number of games.

In a post-match interview, Matebele coach, Sean Connor said the performance of his team was at 70 per cent.

Connor said in the first half, which ended goalless, both teams played an even game.

He said his team was failing to commit on the final ball, therefore failing to finish off goal scoring chances.

Connor said his team, despite playing well in the first half failed to convert as they could not get into the opponent box in numbers.

He said he was working on his players to be more aggressive and attack more in order to get the positive results.

Connor said Matebele was a team that was growing with new players and a new coach and therefore were working on implementing different styles of play.

He said the type of play that his team displayed in the first 20 minutes of the second half was what he desired for as his players were able to control the match, attack more and ultimately got the two valuable goals to win the match.

Going forward, Connor said it was important for the players to focus on eliminating individual mistakes and be able to stay focused for the entire match.

He said the penalty kick awarded to Gunners was an individual error that must be avoided at all costs in future.

Meanwhile, Gunners Coach, Mike Sithole said he was really not sure on how to describe what happened in the pitch.

“To me, we are not mentally and physically prepared since we are not playing as a team. We could not coordinate our attacks,” he said.

He added that after the FIFA  international break, his team was in a bad shape compared to what it looked like in the past.

Sithole said it was important to go back to the drawing board and assess what was going wrong with the team.

“It is important that we talk to the boys and see how we improve. Most of the players are not even here to be selected to play. Even those who played, we just gathered them to come and play because we want to make up a team that will be able to play. All in all, I think today we did not come to the party. The boys really did not play. It was so disturbing that we could not even coordinate and play three of four touches,” he said.

Sithole said in the first half, his players were not able to react quickly and cover up for each other’s mistakes.

He said despite playing better in the second half, his team made two crucial mistakes that had resulted in the opponent getting the vital goals.

Sithole said winning only two games in the last six was a concern but noted Gunners was a big brand that lost many of their key players that were used in the first division last season.

He said the Lobatse giants were at a stage where it was building up, something that would take time to give the desired results.

Sithole said it was unfortunate that the building process was done at a crucial time when the team must win games to survive competition in the elite league, and they were not giving up as the process was to build a formidable side that will be strong enough and fight to the bitter end and avoid relegation.

He said Gunners was a team that must stay in the premier league, adding the league race was still far from over, therefore the team still had time to regroup and start collecting points. Ends