Polokwane City breaks spell against Baroka

Polokwane City Football Club’s head coach, Jozef Vukusic was elated over being first to train a City FC team that managed to beat Boroka Football Club in a Premier Soccer League (PSL) match.
The Slovakian who joined the club in July this year commended his players for ending the drought against Baroka whom they defeated 2-0 at the new Peter Mokaba Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Since their promotion to the elite league in 2013, City has never won a league and cup match against Baroka. The Ga-Mphahlele based outfit have dominated all their fixtures in the past.
Vukusic said they needed a victory after they had played two matches of the 2018/19 PSL season without a feat. “We needed to win the match and climb in the league standing. We came into this match occupying the last position of the league table and now we are in 11th position,” Vukusic said.
He applauded his players for exerting themselves during the match. “We played very well, we showed a fighting mentality. Every player gave a maximum performance. We got it right in defence and the goal keeper did very well throughout the match. The whole team was good defensively. We knew they had played long balls, we knew they would try to play on the wings and we closed them. We scored two goals and we could have scored even more but it was important we kept a clean sheet,” added Vukusic.
Baroka Football Club’s coach Wedson Nyirenda said he was disappointed with the attitude displayed by his players on the pitch. “The team has been doing well against Polokwane City and I think that got into our heads and prior to the match we had drawn against Kaizer Chiefs and that was also heavy for the players. The attitude was too negative. Nobody came to the party today,” Nyirenda said.
Polokwane City Football Club captain, Jabulani Maluleke who was named Man of the Match said the win against Baroka will boost their morale ahead of other fixtures in the league. “This was our first victory of the season. We needed it and we are happy we got it in a derby. We played well as a team and we will take the same performance into other matches of the league,” he said.
City’s goals were scored by Zimbabwean international, Walter Mosona and Jabulani Maluleke in the first and second half of the match.

Story and photos: Herbert Rachuene
>>herbert.observer@gmail.com