Posted in News on Nov 02, 2003.
A mistake by a new signee left back in the first minute of the game set the Cyber branch back as
the Mambas striker dispossed our man, made a quick run towards goal and looped the ball over our advancing golaminder, Keeper, who is also new in the team.
The Cyber Branch though refused to be set back by this
as they surged forward with great pupose. Another new
addition to the team, Gordon took matters into his own
hands as he dictated the midlfield battle. Willy, who
normally plays in that role, was pushed forward by new
coach Mabures to play as a right attacking midfielder,
a role he played brilliantly. The Cyber branch, had
two clear cut chances which our forward, Benny and KKK
both missed in the first half, if only by an inch.
A couple of minutes later, after much pressing
forward, the Cyber branch was caught flat footed as a
ball ballooned forward by the opposition keeper found
a man on the left who left our defence sliding and
slipping, dribbled past the keeper to make the score
2-0 in favor of the home side. But, immediately after
restart, Gordon sent a wonderful pass to KKK, who cut
down the left flank, played the ball to Benny, who
skipped the ball for Willy. Willy played a one-two
with Gordon, before the ball was sent to the right to
Tsakani who played a low cross to Benny who did not
hesitate and balsted a blistering shot the the Mambas
keeper could not handle, to make the score 2-1.
The first half ended on the same score. In the second half
after, the Cyber team came storming at the hosts with
some deft passes from the midfield where gordon and
willy played their hearts out. Benny, KKK missed some
super chances to bring the score level.
Mabures then decided to make a tactical change as he
took of a defender for another attacking midfielder,
Nkulu. Tsakani was switched to the right back
position, before he was also taken off and KKK was
switched to that position. The introduction of Nkulu
brought some activity to the right flank, where the
combination of Nkulu and KKK produced some flowing
football down the right. The midfield genius of
gordon, manyora and willy continued and a ball played
between the three, slipped to our new signee forward
who replaced Benny produced a penalty after a vicious tackle from
behind.
Nkulu stepped up to take the spot kick which was saved by the
keeper, the rebound which was also saved by the
keeper. Nkulu failed to bring the scores level. Barely
a minute later, some neat touched between gordon,
nkulu and willy, produced another opportunity for
nkulu with only the keeper to beat, but the Cyber
forward failed to make the best of the opportunity.
Another move forward as the cyber team pressed for an equaliser, gordon
played the ball high to Nkulu on the right, who skipped the ball over
the advancing defender, layed the ball to Steven, whose shot went just
wide of goal.
The cyber team was pressing forward and the frustration in the
Mambas team started to show as some high flying tackles, mostly which
went unpunished began to ruin the game. First gordon was badly tackled
from behind, then willy, then a vicious tackle by the Mambas defender on the right on Nkulu produced a free kick just outside the penalty area after a neat on-two with KKK. From the resultant free kick, Nkulu played a nice low cross to Gordon who's nice heel was cleared off the line by a defender.
In the last minute of the game, the Mambas had a
chance to increase the lead, but their striker failed
to find the net with the keeper well beaten as the
ball struck the cross bar. The Cyber then surged
forward in what was gonna be their last scoring
attempt as once again, Willy and gordon combined to
lay a nice ball for Steven just outside the box, whose
vicious shot was just parried by the keeper for a
corner.
All in all, a good display of football by both teams.
The Cyber team now looks forward to a thrilling
tournament next week on the 09th of November at Megawatt Park, where
all the team's players including Koloba and Molamo who
were absent because of exams should be available,
Dollar who had some car problems should also be
available to add further strength to the team. Well
done to new coach Mabures for some clever decisions in
his first game in charge.
Final score 2-1 to the Green Mambas
Independent reporter