First league loss in 25 games
Old Bens Football Club’s first XI lost their first league encounter in 15 months (25 league games), on Saturday, when they travelled to Robertsham.
The ELFA Super League clash was a tough, hard-fought one for coach Raymond Cloete’s men as they went down 1-0.
Old Bens were on top for the first 20 minutes and could have opened the deadlock had it not been for two strikes rattling the Robertsham goalkeeper’s post.
The opposition shot-stopper also made some telling saves in the first half, which ended 0-0.
Early into the second stanza, it was the home team who would get the breakthrough from a rebound which came off the Bens goalkeeper.
Soon after the goal, the Robertsham goalie was shown a red card and sent off for a horrendous two-footed tackle on Bens’ striker Bilal Hajee Mohammed, which forced the prolific goal-scorer out the game.
In the final 20 minutes Cloete’s men had numerous chances, including three one-on-one opportunities with the replacement goalkeeper, which Bens missed on each occasion.
“This was a good wake-up call for us after what has been a fantastic undefeated run,” said the coach.
“We have got to remain composed and stick to the football we know rather than being intimidated by the opposition.”
The coach named Lesiba Modau as his man of the match.
