Three points secured in hostile environment

An away day win was the only objective for coach Flavio Mariuzzi’s men in the south, and this proved to be the case when BNFC achieved a 2-1 victory.

A brace of goals from speedster Brogan Shrimpton, who scored his first goal from a blistering individual run and composed finish, ensured that Northerns returned to Benoni with the three points in the bag.

The first team, who again had the lion’s share of possession in the match, could easily have won the match by a larger margin, but suffered some shooting setbacks by again missing good goal scoring opportunities.

Mariuzzi said that the opposition’s goalkeeper did make some excellent saves in the match and deserved credit for his performance.

He also praised his young goalkeeper, Dean Workman, who was solid between the posts in a hostile environment, where the spectators gave him a hard time.

Union’s goal was an equaliser that came when they capitalised on an Nkululeko Gungqisa defensive blunder.

Northerns, however, bounced back soon after the equaliser was scored, with Shrimpton netting his second and taking advantage of the fact that Union were a player down after a red card was handed out by the referee for a slap on Graham Turnbull.

“We played some really nice football, with some smooth touches and sharp interplay from the players,” the coach said.

“The fact that we are creating plenty of chances is positive, but we do need to improve on our finishing.”

The second XI, who played prior to the first team match, also manufactured a number of good opportunities, but allowed a 1-0 lead (courtesy of a Karl Heuer goal) to slip, with about 10 minutes remaining on the clock, to go down 2-1.

Both teams will play Corinthians, at Northern Areas, on Saturday, April 12.

The seconds will kick off at 1.45pm and the first XI kick off at 3.30pm.