Mothiba goal lifts his French spirits

SOUTH African U23 international Lebo Mothiba scored his first professional goal at the weekend‚ ending what had been a frustrating wait at French Ligue 2 side Valenciennes.

Mothiba timed his run perfectly to receive a defence-splitting pass and then showed composure to bury the ball in the bottom corner in a 2-0 home win over Troyes.

The 21-year-old joined Valenciennes on loan from top-flight Lille in January‚ but was initially sidelined by injury and spent six weeks on the sidelines.

He has now started the last two matches and if he can stay injury-free‚ can look forward to regular game-time for the first time in his fledgling career.

Keagan Dolly had to settle for a place on the bench for top-flight Montpellier‚ while Kermit Erasmus was in action last night.

Bongani Zungu played for Portuguese top-flight side Vitoria Guimaraes as they won 2-1 at home to Tondela.

The Bafana Bafana midfielder is now a fixture in the Vitoria side and also helped them into the final of the Portuguese Cup last week where they will meet giants Benfica in the May 28 decider.

Luther Singh was a second half substitute for second-tier Sporting Braga B as they lost 1-0 at Penafiel.

Andile Jali was again left out by Belgian side Oostende‚ while Ayanda Patosi looks like he has played his last game for Lokeren having returned to South Africa to be with a sick relative.

Kamohelo Mokotjo could not save Dutch side FC Twente from a 3-0 loss to Utrecht‚ but Lebogang Phiri played for Danish club Brondby as they won 2-1 against Lyngby.

Both of those players are tipped to leave their respective sides for greener pastures at the end of the season.

Lars Veldwijk was a substitute for his new Norwegian side Aalesund as they played to a 1-1 draw with Stromsgodset‚ but there was no sign of Tokelo Rantie for Turkish outfit Genclerbirligi.

Mihlali Mayambela played for his new Swedish second-tier team Degerfors in their 2-0 win over Norrby‚ while Bradley Ralani had an eventful match for Helsingborgs as he received two yellow cards within 15 minutes of being introduced as a substitute in a 3-3 draw in which his side had led 3-0 at the break. — TMG