Africa-Press – Eswatini. Royal Leopard defeated defending champions Green Mamba 2-0 in an MTN Premier League Forces derby, to spoil their E100 000 first round incentive celebration.
This was during an MTN Premier League match played here yesterday. It was the duo of midfield maestro Junior Magagula and Skipper Muzi ‘Mzoro’ Dlamini, who spoilt the Correctional Services outfit milestone of being the ‘champions’ of the first stanza of this campaign. The Edwin Matsebula-coached side scored two first-half goals to hand the Ernest Mavuso-led side their second defeat of the season.
It was Green Mamba, that made the first attempt at goal just two minutes into the game. This was after Njabulo ‘Magwegwe’ Magagula pulled the trigger outside the box, but his effort failed to reach the desired target. Ingwe mabalabala could have broken the deadlock nine minutes later, when left back Mlamuli ‘Mlaba’ Msibi rose the highest to meet a well-weighted cross by Bongani ‘Gci’ Ndzimandze. His header narrowly missed the target with goalkeeper Xolani Gama beaten. Inyoka eluhlazane could have taken the lead 20 minutes into play, but ‘Magwegwe’ took a lame shot at goal after he was teed-up by Sabelo ‘Sikhali’ Ndzinisa.
The police outfit thought to have gotten the opener, but Banele ‘Neymar’ Shongwe’s goal was ruled for an offside by seasoned referee Thulani Sibandze, two minutes before the half-hour mark. The on-form former national team Sihlangu midfielder, Junior Magagula, eventually broke the deadlock, when he was given ample space to take a long drive, which gave Gama no chance between the sticks five minutes after the half-hour mark.
Ingwe mabalala continued to pile pressure on the log leaders, no wonder. they got the second goal at the stroke of half time when Captain Muzi ‘Mzoro’ Dlamini unleashed a cracker just outside the box, which rested in far post. The sides went to the breather with Leopard enjoying the 2-0 lead.
Upon the start of the second half Mavuso rested Mxolisi Mkhonto for Mthunzi ‘Xavi’ Mkhontfo. The latter tried to inject some urgency in Green Mamba’s attack, as they started to dominate play, however their effort did not yield the desired result as Leopard held on to their lead until Sibandze blew his final whistle to confirm Green Mamba as the champions of the 2023/24 MTN Premier League first round.
They were presented with E100 000 replica cheque by MTN’s Lando Dlamini in the presence of Premier League of Eswatini (PLE) Executive Member Polycarp Dlamini. Meanwhile, Inyoka eluhlazane are on top of the table with 27 points going to the New Year, while Leopard overthrew Madlenya for the second spot on 25 points in 13 outings.
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