Tears of joy as Rangers enters SAB League

Tears of joy flowed down the cheeks of Rangers FC former coach turned chairperson Musa Hlombe when his team’s promotion to the SAB League was confirmed on 13 June.

Rangers were crowned winners of the Alexandra Northrand Local Football Association (ANLFA) Promotional League following a nail-biting penalty shootout against rival United Stars FC in a tightly contested match that ended 1–1 after regulation time.

This meant the two sides had to go through the dreaded penalty shootout without the option of extra time as per the rules of the ANLFA Promotional League. Rangers came out triumphant as 8–7 winners of a total of nine penalties taken, with Rangers missing one and Stars two.

Rangers and Stars were winners of the two-stream promotional competition and they had to battle it out in the play-offs to decide who who would get promoted to the SAB League for the coming 2022 season.

Played at the iconic Alexandra Stadium, the match was dominated by Rangers who made a number of forays into the Stars box but could not capitalise on the opportunities they had.

Gift Mashishi of Rangers could have put his side 1–0 up in just 10 minutes of the game but missed the ball with a fancy bicycle kick, and Itumeleng Molepo crossed the ball in another attempt by Rangers at scoring but it found no one in the box to finish it off.

In the dying minutes of the first stanza, Stars’ Njabulo Shabalala was roughed up in the box and the referee awarded a penalty. He dusted himself off and opted to take the penalty kick himself but fluffed the golden opportunity as he ballooned the ball over the crossbar.
The teams settled for a goalless first half.

In just five minutes of the resumption, Molepo thundered in a shot that rattled the net to give Rangers a 1–0 lead. Mashishi, who appeared to be the weak link of his team, was injured and replaced by Karabo Moiloa who made a tremendous difference to the side.

Rangers’ Meshack ‘Two-Litre’ Tshabalala cursed himself when his brilliant strike after evading three defenders hit the upright and went out of play. Stars then substituted Mmolai Matome for Thabiso Mangoaela.

Stars’ Itumeleng Morare spoilt Rangers’ early party as they thought they had the promotion in the bag by striking a late equaliser in the dying minutes of the game, and the winner had to be decided on the lottery of penalties.

But it was not all over and Hlombe cried like a little baby in celebration of the victory. “People and family laughed at me when I bought the club from retired chair [John Mnisi].

“They claimed I was wasting my money that I could have used to provide for my children. There is only one guy, Sello Sithole, who happens to be our skipper and played professional football for Free State Stars, who encouraged me not to lose focus and his gesture has paid off,” Hlombe said.

Hlombe and Sithole are childhood friends and both played for Rangers from U13s until the senior team before Sithole was snapped up by Free State Stars, only to return and lead his former side into the SAB League.