Silverware ambitions end in extra time
With their chances of winning the ELFA Super League Seniors Division One long gone, the Benoni Northerns Football Club’s first team’s last chance of silverware for the season came away from home, against Kempton Park, in the ELFA Super League Cup, on Saturday, July 26.
It would turn out to be a weekend to forget for the club’s first and second senior teams, as both were on the back end of 3-1 defeats (the reserves were beaten by Highlands Park, at Northern Areas, on Saturday).
“It was just one of those bad days at the office for us,” said coach Flavio Mariuzzi.
“We [the first team] played well in the first period, but were down 1-0 at halftime.”
Northerns would equalise in the second stanza, through a Brogan Shrimpton goal, but luck would be against them about five minutes from time, when Manqoba “Shakes” Ngwenya struck the crossbar from a well directed free kick.
With the score at 1-1 at full time, the game went into extra time.
The home team would take the lead in the first half of extra time, to take the score to 2-1.
Northerns desperately needed a goal in the second 15-minute period and Mariuzzi pushed one of his defenders forward.
This allowed Northerns to create a number of chances, but they could not prevent a third nail in the coffin late on, as their opposition would score their third and advance to the next round.
“There were good moments for us, particularly in the first half,” said the coach.
“The goals that we conceded were relatively poor from a defensive point of view and it is disappointing to go out of the Cup against a team that is sitting beneath us in the league.”
Mariuzzi said the team will now see out their remaining league fixtures and try to finish as high as they can in the Super League, to avoid falling into the relegation scrap at the bottom of the table.
