Randburg FC wins a tough battle against Dainfern
Randburg Football Club U16s coach Njabulo Mdletshe said that they will work on their finishing ahead of their next game.
Randburg Football Club and Dainfern United U16s had to be separated on penalties after a gruelling 2–2 draw.
Randburg hosted Dainfern in the second round of the Rand Central Local Football League (RCLFA) Championship Cup. Despite the visitors’ 5–4 loss on penalties, they were proud of the way they fought back against the highly-rated Randburg team.
The youngsters displayed quality football on both ends. The game was open in the first half with both teams creating opportunities and showing signs of hunger and resilience. The visitors struck first early in the half with a header from Shiven Govender (1–0). Randburg was struggling and looking disjointed and could not keep position. Dainfern failed to take advantage of the errors by the Randburg defence.
The hosts started to pick up their pace and moved the ball in the right areas. They opened the field and played good balls on the left side for the overlapping Amu Tau and the speedy Rorisang Maseko who missed a couple of chances.
The home side had a dream start in the second stanza. The boys started where they left off and Moegamat Sallie found an equaliser and gave his team more confidence (1–1). Randburg was all over the visitors and they could cope with pressure. Sallie doubled his tally for the day and gave Randburg hopes of going to the next round of the tournament (2–1).
The visitors had to dig deep to try and find an equaliser. A long-range freekick from Jason Micksen stunned Randburg keeper Fife Diviani to equalise and force the game to penalties (2–2).
Dainfern fell short 5–4 despite their hard work and were knocked out of the Championship League Cup. Coach Tebogo Mofolo explained that he did not have his full squad with three players ruled out due to food poisoning.
“We had to adjust and mix with the U14s. This is the proudest moment I have from this season; the boys showed that they can fight and give everything for me, especially during the tough times. We knew how Randburg plays, and we were prepared for them.”
Randburg moves to the next round and is keeping the dream of winning the cup alive. Coach Njabulo Mdletshe admitted that there are lots of things that they are going to fix, including taking their chances.
“It was a good, difficult game; they came at us playing route one football. There is a lot of work we need to do but I am proud of my boys; they played their hearts out and pushed very hard.”
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