Bidvest Wits tame Black Leopards

Vhembe District's soccer fans are in mourning after two local teams, Black Leopards and Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila (TTM), were booted out of the Nedbank Cup KO competition.

TTM lost 0-2 to Chippa United at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth last Saturday. Their elder brothers, Black Leopards, lost 3-4 to Bidvest Wits at the Thohoyandou Stadium on Monday evening. The winner was determined through a penalty shoot-out as the score was 1-1 at the end of both the regulation and extra time.

Mr Dylan Kerr, the head coach of Black Leopards, was singing the praises of his players after the game, even though his team will not take part in the next stage of the competition.

The Englishman told a team of journalists during an interview that his players did everything right on the field of play and that he was not worried about the fact that they were booted out of the prestigious competition. According to Kerr, Wits won the match because one team had to proceed to the quarterfinal stage of the competition at the end of the game.

He described a penalty shoot-out as a lottery where anything could happen. He further stated that he had put the defeat at the back of his mind, saying his full focus was now on their remaining league matches.

Kerr’s counterpart at Bidvest Wits, Mr Gavin Hunt, was quick to admit that they were lucky to beat Lidoda Duvha in front of their home crowd. He said that Leopards could easily have beaten them during the regulation time, especially in the last half where the home side was virtually unstoppable.

Wits were the first to find the net, in the 28^th minute through Gift Motupa. Lidoda Duvha fought back in the 76^th minute when Mwape Musonda headed home after Joseph Mhlongo’s cross.

Wits converted three of their five chances from the white spot through Keegan Ritchie, Robyn Johannes and Elias Pelembe, while Leopards scored two via Mwape Musonda and Themba Ndlovu.

Pelembe was nominated man of the match and he was presented with a cheque to the value of R5 000 from the sponsors, Nedbank, after the game.

Sport - Date: 21 February 2019

Frank Mavhungu

Frank is a Human Resources Manager at the Department of Public Works in Limpopo. He is the longest serving correspondent of the Mirror, having joined us at the end of 1990.  He mainly writes sports reports and resides at Tsianda Village. In 2004, Frank won the National Castle League Award, an award for the best reporter in the SAB league in South Africa.

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