By: CHRIS TOTOBELA
It was a sad weekend for Grahamstown football fans as they witnessed two of the local sides being relegated. Neither the XI Attackers nor Sakhulutsha managed to pull off the victory, resulting in both teams dropping to the Makana LFA competition for next season.
In the first game of the double header of the SAB regional league, Sakhulutsha suffered a 2-1 loss against Leeds from Alexandria and got relegated in the process. Sakhulutsha’s coach Siyabonga Masinda saw the positives in the defeat, instead of focusing on the negative. “We lost the game and got relegated but I think this is a blessing in disguise as we were wasting a lot of money in this league. Age is on our side as we only have two over age players in the team while the rest are all u19. We will compete in the LFA and fight our way up again,” said Masinda.
Malinda expressed his concern over the officiating once more, suggesting that, “[the]SAB league co-ordinator needs to watch especially the away games to see how bad the officiating is. They also need to only use qualified referees and I know exactly what I am talking about as I have done the laws of the game in my B licence coaching certificate”.
In the second game, XI Attackers hosted Manchester from Alexandria, also from Alexandria. The game started with Attackers throwing everything at their opponents but failed to make use of the clear chances they had. They were soon made to pay for the missed chances as Zolani Sonandzi ran onto a perfect through pass to beat an advancing keeper.
Attackers hardly recovered from the first goal when Manchester cut their defence wide open after some neat passes with Akhona Kawe finishing with a left footed shot. The home side looked tired and confused after those two quick goals and completely lost their rhythm. Sonandzi took advantage as he added two more goals for his team and completed his hat-trick in the first half, leaving the halftime score 0 – 4 in favour of the visitors.
Manchester added another goal from a set piece when Siyathemba Mazantsi headed the ball home unchallenged. Attackers struggled to string passes together but managed to pull one back through a long range shot by Sihle Ntlanjeni. The final whistle sounded to the relief of the home side with the final score reading 5-1 to Manchester.
There were mixed feelings after the game as Attackers got relegated while Manchester celebrated winning their stream of the league. Attackers team manager, Afika Adam, admitted the shortcomings of his side during the season. “There are a lot of factors that contributed to our relegation. To be honest we were not ready for the SAB league especially financially and I had forseen these problems but players still wanted to go and play,” said Adam, adding, “the problem in this team is deeply entrenched and we will need everyone in the team to pull into one direction in order for us to rise again from this setback”.
Manchester coach, Bongani Babana, was full of pride in his side. “Attackers came to us very strongly in the opening minutes and put us under pressure but we waited until they cracked at the back and punished them. I am happy that we have won our stream and are now going to play-offs in Jeffrey’s bay,” said Babana. “I would like to thank the management and everyone associated with the club,” he added.
Zolani Sonandzi, who scored a hat-trick, thanked his teamates for a job well done and was happy to score three goals in this must win encounter. “I would like to play professional football one day but the lack of scouts in our region makes it a bit difficult for me to achieve that goal,” said Sonandzi.
