MASERU – Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) moved up to second place in the Vodacom Premier League after beating Machokha 3-1 at Ha Ratjomose yesterday afternoon. A goal from Motlatsi Kokoana and a brace from Retšelisitsoe Mopeli ensured the victory for high-flying ‘Sohle-Sohle’.
With the win, LDF moved to 34 points from 16 games, five points behind leaders Bantu.
LDF will now head into the weekend’s game against Liphakoe knowing a victory will put them in contention for the title.
It was not a scintillating performance from the home side and two of their goals came from glaring mistakes by Machokha.
Speaking with reporters afterwards, LDF coach, Motheo Mohapi, said LDF did not make their opponents work hard, and said they started as if they had won the game already. He continued that the players need to put the team first, individuality second.
“We missed a lot of chances; we could have scored more. To some this game wasn’t like the previous two games, they wanted to do what they wanted rather than what we wanted. That’s why they missed chances,” Mohapi said.
LDF lost their clean-sheet in the last minutes of the game when Emmanuel Taylor gave the visitors a consolation goal. Mohapi said failure to see the game out shows LDF lost their discipline.
“We were saying we are done; we are now buying time because it’s hot and the energy levels had dropped,” he said.
“If you are 3-0 up, fatigue is setting in you say, let’s keep the ball. To some it’s like we have won, discipline gets lost and we conceded,” Mohapi said.
LDF will now go two points ahead of Linare on the table. Linare welcome Lijabatho to Maputsoe on Sunday.
For the visitors, head coach Tšepang Mokhele praised his players and said they will learn from the mistakes they made. He said in the past two games Machokha have pressed and were winning balls high up but admitted that conceding early affected his players psychologically.
“We had a good game but the way we conceded, we conceded in the sixth minute and the second minute after halftime, it shows our players did not switch on right on time. However, on the pitch they were not better than us, we were able to connect our balls but we could not convert,” he said.
“We played well, we made mistakes and if you make mistakes you will be punished. LDF’s penalty also was a mistake,” Mokhele lamented.
Weekend’s fixtures
Saturday (16:00)
Matlama vs. LMPS (LCS Ground)
Naughty Boys vs. LCS (Leshoboro)
Galaxy vs. Manonyane (DIFA Leribe)
CCX vs. Lifofane (LCA)
Sunday
Swallows vs. Machokha (Morija)
Linare vs. Lijabatho (DIFA Leribe)
LDF vs. Liphakoe (LDF Ground)
Lioli vs. Bantu (Teyateyaneng)
Tlalane Phahla