Lim Derby ends in draw
The Limpopo Derby between Baroka and Polokwane City ended in 1-all draw on Saturday during the Absa Premier League match at the Peter Mokaba Sports Complex.
POLOKWANE – Baroka was the superior side from the start as far as possession of the ball was concerned. This resulted in them putting a lot of pressure on City’s defense for the better part of the match. The first clear chance of the game went the way of Baroka, with Gift Motupa heading over the crossbar from a fine free kick by Mpho Kgaswane in the early minutes.
Baroka scored their goal after their striker, Robin Galande, beat his opponents and dished a pre-cooked pass to Gift Motupa who scored easily.
The first half was characterised by dangerous play from both teams. To calm the situation, the referee flashed several yellow cards in quick succession and booked players for applying dirty tricks and dangerous play.
City equalised through their speedy striker, Rodney Ramagalela, steering home a penalty to make it 1-1. The spot kick was awarded in the 24th minute after Mathari Mothupa handled the ball in the box.
In the second half, City enjoyed more ball possession but their promising moves were met with a rock-solid defense from Baroka, resulting in no goals during the second half.
This trend continued and was influenced mainly by the fact that Baroka were cooling the ball down in the middle of the park, thus giving their opponents no chance to do as they pleased as was the case in the first half.
Mondli Miya of City could not make the grade as their opponents used him as their freeway.
George Chigova, City’s keeper, saved many shots from Letladi Madubanya. A few minutes later, Baroka’s goalkeeper, Ayanda Dlamini, made a fine save from a long-range effort from Mondli Miya which looked destined for the back of the net. Baroka striker Lewis Macha disappointed everybody in the game’s dying minutes when his shot was saved by City keeper, George Chigova.
