Crusaders FC’s U17 side thrashed Old Parks 5–0 at Old Parks on October 4, keeping a clean sheet in a one-sided contest.

Despite the final scoreline, the visitors found the opening half far from easy. Crusaders FC assistant coach Kholofelo Selota said his team lacked an outlet on the flanks, which made it hard to create chances. “We didn’t have people that were giving us width from the side,” Selota said. “We struggled with that. They were more bunching into the middle.”

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Crusaders were stifled and short of ideas out wide early on, but a change in approach after the break turned a difficult start into a comfortable victory. Selota said the team only found its rhythm after the interval, when the players moved the ball with far more purpose. “The boys played better,” he said. “They were able to connect six or seven passes and were able to break through and make the goal.”

Crusaders finished the afternoon five goals to the good, and Selota was pleased with both the result and the clean sheet, although he admitted the scoreline could have been even bigger. “I feel like we could have scored a lot of goals,” he said. “It’s just that sometimes the mentality when we come to these kinds of games is that it’s kind of low sometimes.”

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Selota said he regularly reminds the players to treat such matches seriously and take their chances. “I always try to tell them, when we find games like this, we need to always capitalise and try to win by all means,” he said.

The result will be a welcome one for the Crusaders U17s, whose second-half display showed what the side can do when the ball is moved wide and passes are strung together.

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