City fail to withstand Tornado’s biting fury

TORNADO moved up to position four on the ABC Motsepe League after narrowly edging an exciting Mthatha City outfit 3-2 at the North End Stadium in East London on Saturday.

The Mdantsane side drew first blood with their first attack of the game as striker Mandilakhe Mlotha took advantage of a lapse in defence and fired his side into an early lead.

Once City settled, they played more constructive football and forced Tornado to play transitional soccer as they starved them of the ball.

The first half turned out to be City’s as they piled on the pressure in search of the equaliser.

Their striker Tsepo Bulu squandered a golden opportunity when he found himself one-on-one with Tornado goalkeeper Thabani Mpanza who read the situation well and came out to snatch the ball from the striker’s feet.

But that did not deter the visitors because shortly after that failed attempt, captain Avela Khumalo drew his side level after beautiful one-two football in the box.

Minutes later the visitors could have doubled their lead after another good passage of play but the Mdantsane side goalkeeper was well-positioned to make a diving save to his right. Whenever Mlotha was on the ball he was threatening but he was guilty of trying to do everything on his own.

Whenever Tornado reached the final third of the pitch they lacked the killer touch.

Tornado coach Tshepo Motsoeneng introduced Reo October in place of Mpanza.

The new keeper was called into immediate action as he pulled off a good save within minutes of coming on, denying City the lead.

Tornado played with more sense of urgency in the second stanza as they searched for the winner.

But they were forced to play the last 25 minutes with 10 men after Mlotha was sent for an early shower following a dangerous tackle on Gugu Jako.

The hosts took the lead when their targetman Riaan Eugene beat an offside trap before dribbling his way past a beaten Ayanda Masiko.

Determined to go back to Mthatha with at least a point, City once again scored an equaliser after Jako found himself unmarked at the back post.

Eugene, who played his heart out forced a mistake from the inexperienced City defence when he pressed hard.

His side won back the ball deep inside City’s half and when it was cut back to Thobile “Chillies” Mkhize, he needed no second invitation to have a crack at goal from outside the box.

His shot deflected off a City defender to beat a diving Masiko.

Motsoeneng said they had moments where they could have done some damage to the opposition.

“There’s three moments in the game – you adapt, you adjust and you impose and that’s how football is played today.

“If you read the opposition and check what they are doing, they are playing a very tactical football in terms of movement and their players are not lazy, they can move but when they lose the ball it means they have committed numbers and that’s a risk,” said the coach.

His City counterpart Nkush Malgas was quick to point out the “blunders” they committed during the game.

“In the first half we had two one on one’s with the opposition goalkeeper but we could not score and we also had the disadvantage of playing young boys. Look at the miscommunication between the left-back and the centre-back but that’s what you suffer when you are playing young boys,” said Malgas.

The results: Swartkops Valley United Brothers 2 Future Tigers 3, Mdantsane Mighty Bucks 3 Morning Stars 0, EC Bees 4 Highbury 2, Walter Sisulu University 4 FC Buffalo 3, Matatiele Professionals 4 Young Ideas 3, Callies 1 Matta Milan 1, Tornado 3 Mthatha City 2, Lion City 2 City Lads 1.