SOCCER: Big win for Wits in women’s football league

The Wits Football Women’s team showed a resurgence in form in their match against Tshwane University of Technology-1 on Wednesday night. Playing on home soil, the team managed to net 5 goals, producing their best performance this season.

Both teams came into this game on equal footing on the league log. TUT-1 had played to a two-all draw with Vaal University of Technology (Vanderbijlpark) two weeks ago while Wits played to a one-all draw with the University of Johannesburg (UJ).

The team played defensively against UJ but showed confidence in their match on Wednesday, pushing forward with every possession of the ball. Linah Maphanga and Siphesihle Zungu made a strong partnership by ensuring that with every touch of the ball they had, an opportunity to score.

“This result shows that we are getting better game-by game”.

When speaking to Wits Vuvuzela last week, Zungu shared how nervous she had been during the last match because she is one of the new players on the team. It seems she has warmed up to the task and this showed in her performance last night.

Wits coach Jabulile Baloyi explained the game had given the team a more positive outlook for the rest of the season. She said “Even though we were satisfied with the draw, this result shows that we are getting better game-by game”.

With Wednesday night’s win, the go into their next match again Midrand Graduate Institute (MGI), their first away game, looking to move to the top of the table. “We’re going back to the drawing board in terms of looking at where our weaknesses were because we didn’t play that perfectly we sure need to work on some departments,” Baloyi said.

The goals of the evening were scored by Maphanga who scored the first two goals, Hlengiwe Tshirunga who scored another two goals and Zungu who scored the final goal of the night against TUT-1 women.

 

SOCCER: Wits Men’s FC suffer a 2-0 defeat to TUT-1

TUT-1 beats Wits men 2-0 in USSA league game.

CHALLENGE: TUT player Nkosenhle Ntshangase on the attack.

CHALLENGE: TUT player Nkosenhle Ntshangase on the attack. Photo: Samantha Camara

Wits Football Club Men suffered yet another defeat after they lost their second match 2-0 to fifth placed Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) at the Bidvest Stadium on Wednesday evening.

Wits coach, Karabo Mogudi explained how disappointed he was at the result of the game. He said “Football is an honest game, it really shows you your weaknesses and if you’re lacking in anything, it’ll really show up”.

The pitch was damp as the rain had fallen quite heavily earlier in the evening. The grass was quite slippery, making it difficult for players to keep steady and upright on the pitch.

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ATTACK: Neo Makua dribbles past the TUT-1 defense. Photo: Samantha Camara

In the first few minutes neither team asserted themselves as ball possession was equally distributed.

A counter attack by TUT in the 15th minute led by Senzo Mtshali with the assistance of Shirinda Vogani almsost put them in the lead. Future Gumede eventually took the shot that went wide of the post.

Wits player Innocent Magasela found himself at the end of a hard tackle in the 18th minute of the game which left him in serious pain, giving Wonder Frank an opportunity to show his skills after Magasela had to be taken off.

In the 27th minute of the first half, the perseverance of the TUT side and an error by Wits gave the TUT combination of Mtshali, Vongani and Gumede an opportunity to move towards Wits goals from the left hand side of the Wits defence resulting in a surprising goal by Bongi Mkhabele. Placing TUT-1 in the lead with 13 minutes of the first half remaining.

The second goal of the match came in the 79th minute of the match after both teams had a series of back-and-forth attempts. Gumede, who had been a headache for the Wits defence throughout the game, led an attack from the middle. Vongani stole the ball from the Wits mid-fielders and went through the right hand side of Wits’ defence to score a goal that can only be described as beautiful, sealing the fate of the Wits side.

Coach of the winning side TUT Maude Khumalo said: “I am very happy with the way the boys played, they listened to my instructions, they played as a team and they worked hard.”

Both Wits teams will play away against Midrand Graduate Institute on the 24th March at the Makulong Stadium.

SOCCER: Wits FC Women’s side looking to attack this season

The Wits Football Club Women’s side is hoping to win against the University of Johannesburg ahead of tomorrow’s encounter at the Bidvest Wits Stadium.

 

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CLASH OF THE NEIGHBOURS : L-R Wits FC’s Mid-Fielder Linah Maphanga and University of Johannesburg’s striker Molemo Mashigo at the USSA (University Sport South Africa) Gauteng Football League launch, which took place last Tuesday at UJ Soweto Campus.                                                                                Photo: Nqobile Dludla

 

Wits Football Club (FC) Women’s side coach Dennis Tshabalala emphasised the need to play attacking football against University of Johannesburg (UJ) Women’s side when the two sides meet at the Bidvest Wits Stadium on Tuesday night.

Speaking to Wits Vuvuzela, Tshabalala said: “The way we attack will be different tomorrow as it has (sic) been the area which we had to solve and I am confident we will score 1 or 2 goals tomorrow.”

Wits FC will be looking to return to this season’s USSA (University Sport South Africa) Gauteng Football League looking to qualify for the USSA Football Championships.

The team finished in fifth position last year with 11 points while UJ made it into the semi-finals of the USSA Gauteng qualifiers and finished third with 22 points.

Commenting on last season’s performance, Tshabalala said one of the positives was, “that we did not concede a lot of goals which meant defensively we were reasonably okay.” Tshabalala agreed that the team faced challenges with scoring against the top four teams.

Despite UJ finishing the season with more points than Wits FC, Tshabalala is confident that his team is “ready and have worked hard at dealing with any form of threat that they may pose.”

“Mentally we would need to be strong as this would put us ahead of UJ. [In terms of] Physical fitness we will be on par with them and we will compete”, said Tshabalala.

With three players from last season gone, Wits FC women’s side has six new players who according to Tshabalala will be adding more value to the team.

“To bridge the gap, we will work strategically at training to ensure the quick transition of the new players to blend in with the squad. There are six players who have joined us which would change how we attack (sic). We will have a different approach of attack (sic) this year which would ensure scoring more goals”, said Tshabalala.

Ahead of tomorrow’s encounter, Tshabalala said Wits supporters can expect “Great football with goals.”