Even with a 3–2 scoreline, it seems neither Norwood Young Stars FC, who won the Saturday clash, nor Alex Black Poison FC were entirely satisfied with the outcome of the ANLFA U17 fixture at Altrec Sports Complex.

Ahead of the game, expectations were high on both sides. Yet once the players took to the field, both coaches quickly realised they might need to adjust those expectations.

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Alex Black Poison coach Phathutshedzo Maseko watched his team buckle under pressure as Norwood pressed forward and scored relentlessly in the first half.

“The first goal was conceded unnecessarily, and the players started blaming each other and fighting among themselves,” Maseko said.

About 30 minutes in, Norwood’s Legadime Mamoepa scored the second goal. Junior Makunyane later followed suit, beating Black Poison goalkeeper Wandile Sokanyile to give his team the third goal, the one that ultimately decided the match.

According to Maseko, it was the blame-shifting and squabbles among his players that led to conceding those additional goals.

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“We conceded the second and third goals because they were busy fighting, pointing fingers. That is why in the first half we could not focus properly,” he explained.

It took nothing but the coach’s halftime directive to slightly turn the tide in Black Poison’s favour. The team eventually began punishing Norwood in an intense bid to equalise.

In the first half, Norwood’s defence had stood firm, denying Black Poison’s strikers any chance to score. But in the second half, Black Poison found the net not once but twice when Alec Mailula beat Norwood’s goalkeeper Mndeni Mathenjwa, who had been saving one-on-one and opportunistic strikes throughout the game.

The 3–2 scoreline left Norwood coach Liyabona Ntlalukana unsatisfied. Although his side walked away with three points, he said that goal difference mattered just as much as winning.

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“The goal difference also matters. Remember, goals like these can haunt us in situations where we have the same number of points as another team but lose out because of a single goal,” Ntlalukana said.

He admitted his players grew too comfortable in the second half. “Once they conceded, Alex Black Poison gained momentum, and ours died.”

He acknowledged that his team also began to feel the same pressure Black Poison had experienced in the first half, which gave Black Poison the upper hand and a chance to equalise, though they did not.

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