BNFC lose opening game
Benoni Northerns Football Club’s first XI opened their ELFA Super League Seniors Division One campaign away from home, against Alberton, at the DH Harris grounds, on Saturday, March 22.
Coach Flavio Mariuzzi’s team had a relatively successful pre-season and was hoping for a winning start in their first competitive fixture of 2014.
This was, however, not the case, as the team let a two-goal lead slip in the second half of the match, to disappointingly go down 3-2.
The Northerns team, captained by Gordon Brown, started brightly in the first half of their encounter and was 2-0 up within the first two minutes, courtesy of fine goals from Thabang “Junior” Tsoka and Sim Maseko.
Maseko’s performance was, for Mariuzzi, one of the positives of the day, and his chipped finish from a well played through ball highlighted this.
Brown’s team was caught napping within the first 10 minutes of the second stanza and conceded the early goal.
The momentum swung in favour of the Alberton team when Northerns defender Alexi Munro missed from the penalty spot.
The Alberton players came to life following the penalty miss and bagged the equaliser and the subsequent winning goal within the final 15 minutes of play.
“We looked tired in the second half and could have won the match had we not hit the woodwork on a few occasions,” Mariuzzi said.
“The penalty miss was a big blow for us and seemed to energise our opposition.
“We looked dangerous on attack at times and can take some positives from that.”
The Northerns reserve team played before the first XI and were held to a 2-2 draw after conceding the equalising goal to their opponents in the final minute of the match.
“It was not a bad result for the second team away from home,” Mariuzzi said.
The first team will be looking to bounce back from the disappointment of losing the opening fixture when they take on Bedforview Braga, in the first game of the season, at Northern Areas, with kick-off at 3.30pm.
