WHEN Mpumalanga Black Aces was sold, their players were unwillingngly put in a truck and shipped off to Cape Town City like a herd of cattle – today, and to borrow from Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula, they’re a bunch of winners!
They defeated a star-studded SuperSport United outfit 2-1 in a match the City players will never forget.
Who would have thought that a team in less than six months of existance, would lift a major trophy in Mzansi’s top tier of football.
Owner John Comitis is a genius and all kudos to him and his technical team that was put together haphazardly, just to make the numbers in the rigorous PSL.
Yesterday’s win may not have been clinical, but they have a trophy - even though I doubt they have a trophy cabinet yet. The trophy will probably stay in Comitis’ car boot for a while until they invest in some sort of a room divider to match the likes of the so-called big clubs.
Players such as Lebo Manyama, Aubrey Mngoma, Sibusiso Masina, Bhongolethu Jayiya, Judas Moseamedi, who were overlooked by big, fast-sleeping club bosses who own glamour clubs, have raised their stock two fold - just watch when the January transfer window opens when the scramble for in-form players begins, and will be too late. It may not have been the dream cup final the sponsors Telkom were banking on but the match had all the fireworks, the excitement and the adrenaline.
Fans in Limpopo were treated to a humdinger. Had it not been for the wasteful ways of Manyama, City would have won comfortably.
He missed about three clear scoring opportunities and this allowed United back into the game.
Tinkler’s boys opened the scoring via Aubrey Ngoma’s bullet shot early in the first half. With City going to sleep, Kingston Nkhatha eqaulised with a tap-in after a goal mouth scramble. Three minutes later super-sub Judas Moseamedi sealed the deal with a cheeky header.