Black Leopards Football Club beat their provincial nemesis, Polokwane City Football Club 1-0 to win their first match of the Premier Soccer League (PSL) at Peter Mokaba Stadium on Saturday evening.
Leopards‘s winning goal was scored by their longest serving player, Karabo Tsepe in the first half of the match from a free-kick.
The victory sees Leopards in 6th position of the League and Polokwane City Football Club in 12th position, with no points.
Spokesperson for Black Leopards, Berry Ramunenyiwa said the victory against Polokwane City Football Club has set a good tone for their season. “This is dream start for us. We wanted to start well and we did. This will motivate the players, especially those who don’t have PSL experience, to show them that there is nothing different about the league, it is just a new environment. We are in the PSL to stay, we don’t want to be visitors. We are here to compete and win trophies and we can’t afford to drop the standard,” Ramunenyiwa said.
He added that preparations for their match against Highlands Park Football Club, who they meet today (Thursday) at Makhulong Stadium in Tembisa, had begun.
“It is going to be the clash of the titans. They are not easy customers, they gave us tough time last season. We drew against them in our home match and lost the away encounter while still campaigning in the National First Division. We are expecting a tough match but we need to keep the momentum going and win such matches,” added Ramuneyiwa.
Chief Executive Officer of Baroka Football Club, Morgan Mammilla said their 0-1 loss against Amazulu Football Club at King Zwelithini Stadium in Durban on Saturday evening won’t deter their PSL campaign.
“Look, it is every team’s dream to start the season well and we are no different. Football is a funny game, you lose some matches and you win some matches. We played well but we could not convert the chances we created. Again, teams that play well lose matches but we want to assure our supporters that going forward we will win most of the matches,” Mammilla said.
He also stated that they have put their loss against Amazulu behind and turned their attention to Kaizer Chiefs Football Club whom they meet on Tuesday evening at the new Peter Mokaba Stadium.
Mammilla said their match against Chiefs will be much easier compared to the other duels in the League.
“There is no need to motivate players when they play against Kaizer Chiefs. This is big team in Africa and all the teams want to win against them. They beat us at home last season and we beat them in the away match and I believe we will walk away with three points on Tuesday,” Mammilla said.
Story and photo: Herbert Rachuene
>>herbert.observer@gmail.com
