EC Aloes keep NZ dream alive

THE Eastern Cape Aloes pulled through to the playoffs of the Brutal Fruit Netball Premier League when they claimed victory over the Baobabs on Sunday morning at the Mangaung Sports Complex in Bloemfontein.

Having finished seventh last season the team had earlier this year set a target of securing a spot in the semifinals.

The Aloes breathed a sigh of relief when they beat the Limpopo team 51-44 to stay in the running for the grand prize of an all expenses paid trip to New Zealand.

After losing to the Golden Fireballs, the second team from Gauteng, last weekend by a whopping 7628 the Aloes had one final chance to turn the tables in their favour and they did just that.

Team Captain Nosiphiwo Goda, who could not captain her team to their victory due to other work related commitments, expressed her joy on her team’s performance, saying this was their highest ranking so far.

“We are really happy as a team to have managed to win and we are glad that we are currently ranking higher than we ever did in the league,” she said.

While the Aloes may have claimed victory over the Baobabs their unfinished business with the Fireballs will continue this Friday at 6pm.

In this David and Goliath battle the Aloes might find themselves in a tricky situation as the Fireballs are ranking third, with only two losses out of their nine games played so far, whereas Aloes have lost five of their games. However, Goda is not phased by any of that and said hopeful for better results.

“We have been given another chance to prove ourselves and fix what we did wrong in our game against Fireballs,” said Goda.

“I’d like to believe we will be ready for our game on Friday and come out with better results,” she added.

Currently the top six has the Gauteng Jaguars in first place, while Flames of North West are in second place followed by Golden Fireballs in third place. Fourth place has the Southern Stings from Western Cape and Free State Crinums in fifth place, while Aloes are in the sixth and final place.

Four other teams had to bid the season farewell as they couldn’t manage to outplay those in the top six and those teams include: Kingdom Stars of KZN, Limpopo Baobabs, Mpumalanga Sunbirds and Diamonds of the Northern Cape. they are