Flymingo FC cruise past Shooters FC

Carolina Shooters FC suffered their first home defeat at the hands of Piet Retief Flymingo FC with their 3-1 loss in a gripping encounter last Sunday at Carolina Rugby Stadium.

With both sides missing some of their key players, both coaches had to make do with the squad available for selection.

Flymingo coach Linda Zwane was without four of his key players and Zeph Mkhwanazi of Shooters FC missed his experienced defender, Charlie.

Flymingo FC had a score to settle with Shooters FC, as their two past encounters last season saw Shooters always coming from behind to force a draw.

Shooters kicked off the first half on a high note, putting pressure on the Flymingo defence that absorbed it well and from time to time Flymingo launched its own attack on Shooters.

Shooters were unlucky to have their goal disallowed for an offside violation in the 40^th minute.

Flymingo striker Mxolisi Nhlengethwa proved troublesome for the Shooters defence as he headed home a well-timed cross from a direct free kick, beating Shooters keeper Bongani Ndaba in the 60^th minute.

Shooters FC also had their chance squandered after Josia Mlangeni knitted a number of defence splitting passes that were either shot wide or near misses.

Flymingo Mxolisi Nhlengethwa netted his second goal after receiving an aerial pass which he put down with his left foot, shouldering his defender and bringing it to his right before he fired his second goal past the Shooters keeper, making it 2-0.

Hardly two minutes after his second goal, Nhlengethwa was at it again as he capitalised on a defensive error by the Shooters middle field where he bulldozed his way past two defenders and netted his third goal to complete his hat-trick.

Before the end of the game, Shooters keeper Bongani Ndaba pulled two brilliant saves as Flymingo striking force took a combination of long and short-range shots against him.

Minenhle Mdluli scored Shooters’ sole consolidation goal, making it 3-1 at fulltime.

Shooters coach Zeph Khwanazi told the Highvelder during the post match interview that his team was beaten through its own mistakes.

“We had a bad day in the office today and the three mistakes resulted in three goals, but the opponents also came prepared and gave us a good game,” said coach Mkhwanazi.

Flymingo coach Linda Zwane was ecstatic as he finally beat Shooters.

“Today I’m truly excited that we managed to beat them, although things weren’t going our way in the first half. We had to change tactics and play ground balls to our striker, which did wonders, hence the three strikes,” said coach Zwane.