Pastors’ footwork proves too much for deejays
THE Nemato pastors’ football team turned out to be a well-oiled machined on Saturday afternoon, defeating Ndlambe FM presenters’ team 10-5 at Gidana Stadium in Ndlovini.
The Ndlambe FM presenters left their studio on Saturday afternoon for a different kind of entertainment on the football field. Male radio presenters made up the team, while their female colleagues gave them moral support. The game was broadcast for those who could not make it to the stadium. Facing them on the field were a team of local pastors from different denominations, but they could only muster nine players.
Even so, they proceeded with the game. Both teams had a few players who play in the Ndlambe Local Football Association. The game kicked off at 3.30pm. With two men down, the pastors doubled their efforts on the field, displaying early dominance and scored a goal in the first five minutes. The radio presenters’ team launched a counter-attack but the ball was intercepted and played straight in to trhe path of Fire Nomnganga, who buried the ball in the back of the net.
Nomnganga was unstoppable and gave the Ndlambe FM defenders a headache. Even though he was the lone striker he managed to score four goals, with one assist to his name. Mahlati killed off the radio presenters’ hopes when he scored two beautiful goals in the first half. The deejays went into half time trailing 5-0.
In the second half, Ndlambe FM came on much stronger and dominated the first 10 minutes. Philimon Njibana, who is a presenter in the morning devotion hour from 5am – 6am, scored one goal in the second half, giving hope to the deejays that God was also on their side. His goal sparked off a flood of goals from both sides and the game was up for the taking. Then Thabo Loli from the pastors’ team extended their lead with two goals.
Nkosinathi Poni from Ndlambe FM tried to restore his team’s hopes when he scored two goals. Confidence seemed to have been restored when Sinethemba Pase also scored two goals.
The pastor’s team responded by converting their holy spirit into team spirit when Thokozani Mtiki and Joe Mag poured salt on their opponents’ wounds by adding two more goals to guarantee their win. The final score was 10-5 to the pastors. The entertainment did not end on the field. After the game which ended around 5pm, players from both teams were asked to head to Titi Jonas where they were surprised with supper.
Zoli Sakade, who is a presenter and part of the management team at Ndlambe FM, said the main aim was to entertain listeners and residents at large.
“We were only entertaining our people as we normally do. But we wanted the players to have some food after the game and that’s the only difference,” said Sakade.