Africa-Press – Lesotho. Bantu has again squandered crucial points this week when they shared the spoils with Liphakoe at Setsoto stadium. Three weeks ago Bantu were thrashed 2-nill by Matlama after
going 10 games unbeaten in the Vodacom Premier League (VPL). Bantu is currently siting at number two on the VPL table with 37 points after 14 games, while
Liphakoe is at number 9 with 19 points after 16 games. The VPL second league imparts more pressure on most of the teams that turn out to be more focused and determined to win all the matches to
acquire “League champions” title. The competition seem to be extremely tough following the window period that granted teams the opportunity to sign new
players to reinforce their squads. Most of the premier league clubs are contesting to be in the top 4 or 8 while others are fighting for relegation. The game between Bantu and Liphakoe is one of the big matches
of the premier league because they are district clubs. A-matšo-Matebele represents the district of Mafeteng and Liphakoe represents that of Quthing district.
In the first half of the match Bantu was dominating in terms of ball position and it was able to make accurate passes and keeping the ball to themselves as to open spaces that was used by their right winger, a natural
ball dribbler Neo Mokhachane. In the 25th minute of the first half Bantu winger Mokhachane made a wonderful hard deep square ball that was headed into the net by Bantu captain Litšepe Marabe.
That was recorded as the first goal of the match making Bantu to lead with 1-0. In the dying minutes of the first half Liphakoe’s attacking midfielder, Tšeliso
Ramafikeng started playing one-twos in the midfield and distributed a wonderful killer pass that was scored by their striker Thapelo Tale. Both teams played
out to a stalemate (1-1) as the final whistle blew. In a post-match interview, Liphakoe Assistant Coach Tšepo Hlojeng expressed his excitement for collecting a point in an away match
against Bantu that seem to be on form this season, winning most of its games in high margin of goals. Hlojeng further mentioned that Bantu is one of the teams
in the VLP that have good quality players who are very skilful in terms of ball control and tactics. Hlojeng explained that their game plan was just to defend
more and create a strong wall behind their goals to prevent Bantu from penetrating their box. In a one-on-one interview with Bantu head coach; Atang Bob
Mafoso articulated that the draw is part of the game so they cannot put themselves under any pressure as there are still many upcoming games that they
need to focus on. Mafoso further stated that Liphakoe was not a threat when attacking but they were more solid when defending and that shows that they
executed their game plan very well. He lastly mentioned that they are still in a good position; that is at number two following the draw between Matlama and Lijabatho. Matlama was one point ahead of Bantu and the difference stays the same.
