Leopards roar back
The day has come and Black Leopards are back in the Absa Premiership after beating Jomo Cosmos 1-0 at Thohoyandou Stadium yesterday afternoon to win the promotion play-offs.
Leopards moved up to eight points to take an unassailable lead at the top of the three-team mini-log, with nothing to play for in the final match at Vosloorus between Cosmos and Platinum Stars on Saturday.
Leopards’ slogan and nickname Lidoda Duvha is Venda for “the day will come” and it finally happened after four years of trying for David Thidiela’s legendary club.
And in hindsight, Thidiela’s decision to put Joel Masutha in charge proved to be a masterstroke.
Leopards were desperate to finish off the job in front of 18 000 people in their own backyard and Karabo Tshepe scored the all-important goal 25 minutes into the match and it proved enough to seal the deal for Lidoda Duvha as Ezenkosi could not find a reply.
Lidoda Duvha could have gone into the half time break 2-0 to the good had it not been for Cosmos captain Thato Lingwati who made a goal line clearance right at the end of the half.
Leopards were last in the Premiership in the 2012/13 season where they finished bottom of the standings and were automatically relegated.
As for Ezenkosi, they’ll have to try and win back promotion to top flight football for another season battling it out in the highly-competitive NFD, where they will be joined by Dikwena and Ajax Cape Town, who were automatically relegated from the Absa Premiership.