Hat-trick secures third successive win

Benoni Northerns Football Club’s (BNFC) first XI travelled to Corinthians Football Club, in Linksfield, on Saturday, April 11, for their fourth game of the ELFA Super League campaign.

After enjoying a week’s rest, due to the Easter holiday, coach Jannie van den Berg’s men were eager to get back into action and stretch their recent winning form.

The Northerns team did precisely that with a 3-0 victory.

The rust from the rest period was clearly evident in the first half, based on the number of passes which went astray from the Northerns players.

The teams would go into the half-time break with a goalless score line.

Van den Berg changed his formation from a 4-5-1 to a standard 4-4-2 in the second stanza and introduced the highly dangerous forward Brogan Shrimpton, who started on the bench.

This shuffle paid dividends for the coach, and soon Shrimpton was celebrating a hat-trick after latching onto some good attacking moves from the Northerns players.

Van den Berg still believes that this current Northerns side is a work-in-progress and not even close to peak performance.

“We are definitely getting there and the players are certainly getting fitter now,” he said.

The team will next play Edenvale at home, at 3.30pm, on Saturday, April 18, before they do battle with arch-rivals Old Bens Football Club in a “Benoni Derby” ELFA Super Cup first round clash, at Northerns, on Wednesday, April 22, at 8.30pm.

n Old Bens had a bye this weekend and will travel to Olympia, on Saturday, before Wednesday night’s derby.