Tornado plan turbulent time for high-flying Bucks oufit
Saturday will see Mthatha Bucks returning to North End Stadium in East London to face Tornado in an ABC Motsepe League clash for the top spot.
The former National First Division (NFD) side which began the season with a skeleton squad has managed to find their feet in the third-tier league, after a large number of players and administrators pulled out after Bucks were relegated from the second-tier league.
On the other hand, Tornado also had to start looking for new players, but it was after their most influential players like Charles Gallagher and Charlie Hlalele left for greener pastures after being spotted by AmaZulu at the ABC Motsepe League playoffs held in Polokwane last year.
Mboniseni Mbanjwa was the latest player to leave the Mdantsane-based outfit for NFD side Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila (TTM).
The Mthatha-based team reached the summit of the standings last week after they narrowly beat bottom-of-thelog The Guys 1-0.
Those three points elevated Bucks to 40 points and the top of the standings.
Meanwhile, in a turnup for the books last week, Tornado tasted their own medicine when they were handed a 2-1 beating by the competitive PE Stars.
The result propelled Stars to third position on the log with 38 points – the same as reigning champions Tornado.
The champs have a better goal difference and are a place ahead in second.
Tornado team manager Simphiwe Magongo said since they were the defending champions nothing short of a win would suffice to feed their ambitions to defend their hardearned title.
“This game is very important to us. We’ve played against Bucks before and they’re now leading the log table but we believe that we belong at the top of the log.
“Also this game will decide who will win the league, according to my understanding,” said Magongo.
Tornado met Bucks in the first round of the third-tier league and they were able to tame them, and Magongo said they were banking on their players to show character again against Bucks.
“We beat them in the Nedbank Cup [preliminary stages] and then we drew a league game against them.
“But as much as we’ve beaten them before, we can’t be complacent when they come to us and think that it’s an easy job, because they will be looking for a win.
“They have shown they want to win the league so we have to be careful how we approach this game, but we have the firepower needed to outplay them and we have homeground advantage,” said Magongo.
He said although they had lost some of their most influential players, as mentioned above, they had recruited more talent to bolster their side.
“I admit we’ve lost many good players since last season, like Charles [Gallagher] and others, but the technical staff with the help of coach Tshepo Motsoeneng have recruited the best players.
“And we are confident that players Vuyisile Ntombaythethi and Kefuwe Siyoko have the experience we need for this game. Plus we have recruited young boys with experience in this league and they are not scared of anything.”
Other fixtures: Highbury v Bush Bucks (NMU South Campus, Summerstrand ), Matta Milan v Swartkops Valley United Brothers (Ngumbela Stadium, Butterworth), Yakha United v Birmingham City (Mount Ayliff Stadium), Butterworth v Bizana Pondo Chiefs, Future Tigers v The Guys (Mqeshwa Sports Feilds), PE Stars v Peace Makers.
Also this game will decide who wins the league
Simphiwe Magongo Tornado manager