Ward 75 Alex Derby goes the ‘Poison’ way

A solitary goal from the boot of Black Poison’s Velaphi Mabuza scored late in the first half of the Hollywoodbets Johannesburg Men’s Regional League against Amajananda FC was enough to earn his side all the points needed, three in total, and bragging rights.

This was at the derby played at the Alexandra Stadium on December 5, which the Poison side could have won by seven or so goals if the side had rattled the net with all the scoring opportunities that came its way.

But credit must also go to the Amajananda side for a solid defence that kept its shape and ensured it minimised the damage in a match of two halves, with the first belonging to the Poison side while the second half belonged mainly to Amajananda who were seeking to find a goal or two to win the match.

Alex News went past a last-minute pep talk that coach Eric Paul was having with men just before they went to battle and the publication can whisper to you that he spoke of goals and goals, urging his charges not to be shy in front of the goals. “Matches are won from goals,” he said.

It was most probably for this reason, that the Poison men wanted to kill the game from the word go as they tormented the goalkeeper with numerous raids into the goalmouth, though, with no success.
Amajananda also had a few in-between opportunities at scoring in the first half but the final opportunity fell on Mabuza, who made sure he buried it and scribbled his team’s name first on the scoreboard.

Poison never sat back and relaxed after their solitary goal but kept up the pressure for an insurance goal that never was and the teams settled for a 1-0 oranges break.
On resumption of the second half, coach Surprise Shitlhavani seemed to have told his charges to take the game to the poison side in search of a goal or two and the opportunity to turn the tables but it was never to be and poison walked away 1-0 victors.