A coagulated Malandela is thumped by Barcenal
Malandela Mighty Heroes failed to make it two-out-of-two when they lost the return match 3-2 to FC Barcenal.
A not-so-fluid Malandela Mighty Heroes will rue the missed opportunities as a determined FC Barcenal grabbed a last-minute gasp goal to collect maximum points on the road.
The Johannesburg Regional League game, formerly the SAB League, was played at the Alexandra Stadium on February 18 and ended with a 2–3 and the home side was without its astute tactician, Vincent ‘Young Master’ Rammoni.
The SuperSport United slaying coach was on his other coaching duty with Dondol Stars, the side that demolished SuperSport in the Nedbank Cup round of 32 to qualify for the round of 16 where they will meet the mighty Zulu warriors, AmaZulu FC at a venue and date still to be announced.
Dondol, which plies its football trade in the ABC Motsepe League, had a league match that the Young Master had to attend and delegated the regional league side in Alexandra to his assistant.
Malandela was lucky to have escaped with a thin scoreline difference as the visitors were denied a goal by the upright while another chance from an acute angle slid past the goal with no one to finish it off.
It was Malandela who registered their name first on the scoreboard as early as the 4th minute of the game through the boot of Ashley Simons and Barcenal replied midway into the first half to level the score at 1–1 through Kabelo Malata.
Barcenal quickly wanted to take the steam out of Malandela and most probably kill the game at the same time when Onthatile Nkgabe failed to convert a golden opportunity that went begging.
Barcenal’s Tshegofatso Mkhumbuza earned himself a yellow card when he fouled Malandela’s troublesome leftwinger Thokozani ‘Majaqamba’ Nyathi. Malandela’s Number 27 [not on the team sheet] grabbed a last-minute goal of the first half to put his side on the lead again as the team went off the pitch for the oranges break.
On the resumption of the second stanza, it was Barcenal’s Mkhumbuza who grabbed a quick equaliser in only the third minute to level the scoreline at 2–2 and it was game on for both sides to battle it out for the winner.
Barcenal’s winning goal came through the boot of Malata in the dying seconds of the game, making him the only brace scorer of the game. Malandela won the first game of the league against Barcenal 3–1 away.
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