KPFC drills its way into SAB Castle League
Sixteen teams from all over Ekurhuleni competed for two spots in the fourth tier of the South African football pyramid.
They did it the hard way. Six extremely tough, competitive games over two weekends but Kempton Park Football Club secured a place in next season’s SAB Castle League.
Sixteen teams from all over Ekurhuleni competed for two spots in the fourth tier of the South African football pyramid and Kempton Park took their place with an emphatic victory over Reedville FC from KwaThema at Vosloorus Stadium.
The lineup for the game showed Kempton Park’s strength in depth with no fewer than seven players under the age of 20 in the starting 11. With Zivai Verenga, Euclid Palmer, Musa Mthembu and Dion Homela adding a little experience to the side.
Kempton took the lead after three minutes when a Reedville defender blatantly handled the ball in the box and referee Brett Hanson had no choice but to award a spot kick.
Star striker Verenga confidently sidled up to the ball before fizzing it right footed into the bottom left-hand corner with the keeper unmoved.
Kempton dominated the first half of the first half with shots from Palmer, Verenga and a thunderbolt Mthembu narrowly going wide of the target. Reedville battled hard but found the excellent Kempton back four unwilling to yield and with Mthembu and Homela dominating the midfield, the boys in red were completely dominant.
On 35 minutes, Kempton doubled their lead when a long kick from keeper Njoro was expertly brought under control by Verenga, who dodged past a defender only to see the goalie charging towards him.
This posed no threat, however, as the Kempton striker flicked the ball to the right and easily rolled it into an unguarded net.
There was a brief moment of doubt two minutes into the second half when Reedville was awarded a free kick just outside the box and scored when Njoro failed to handle correctly and the ball dribbled over the line.
This was about as bad as it got for Kempton and when the same errant keeper made a great stop minutes later, his confidence was restored. Kempton regained their two-goal cushion a quarter of an hour into the half when a defence-splitting pass was latched onto by a rampaging Kojak who fired home with a splendid first-time strike from just inside the penalty area.
Verenga completed his hat-trick when a hapless Reedville goalkeeper cleared straight to him and he had no problem firing the ball over the stranded netminder’s head for a 4-1 lead.
Kempton’s final goal came five minutes from time when substitute Grant Terrey found himself in a world of space after an incredible passing move that had involved no fewer than seven players, soundly drilling the ball into the bottom right-hand corner.
Reedville scored a consolation goal in injury time when Njoro parried a vicious shot to his right only to see the ball smashed past him on the rebound.
No matter, victory was secured and the SAB League beckoned.
Verenga was top goalscorer at the tournament with eight goals from five starts.
This achievement was a long time in coming and obviously, congratulations should go to the management and coaching team of Vusi, Junior, Andile Mehlomakhulu, Graeme Rutherford and John Mann. It should be remembered that previous coach Trevor Botha laid much of the groundwork that allowed the team to qualify for the playoffs in the first place.
Well done to all of the players involved, especially an extremely talented group of young players who were a credit to the club. May this be another step in the rise of Kempton Park Football Club.
