Swallows record second victory

LERIBE – Swallows recorded their second victory of the Vodacom Premier League season last Saturday by beating CCX 3-1 in Hlotse, Leribe.

The much-needed win puts ‘Maswai-swai’ five points above the dreaded relegation zone and they will be hoping the win kickstarts their season as they look to avoid being dragged into the relegation dogfight again.

Last season Swallows escaped the drop by the skin of their teeth and their head coach Teele Ntšonyana said although the team is still rebuilding, they will reach their goals with time.

The Mazenod based side arrived in Hlotse late after having problems with their team Sprinter bus on the way and the game started 27 minutes later than the scheduled time.

What makes their victory even more impressive is that Swallows were not allowed to warm up on the pitch until they produced documents. They spent about 10 minutes near their car warming up for the game.

In the first half it was clear Swallows were not up to speed and they could not cope with the pace of CCX’s attacks.

Swallows conceded an early goal when Tšoeu Thejane found the back of the net with a beautiful strike from the left-hand side which left the goalkeeper with no chance.

After that CCX could have scored two more goals but they missed a clear goal-scoring chance and in the other instance the goalkeeper denied them from close range. Before CCX knew it, Swallows equalised with their first real chance of the game.

Ntšonyana said his Swallows team lapsed in concentration because they did not activate enough before the game in terms of the warm-up they did. However, they came back a different team in the second half.

“We are rebuilding and the rebuilding phase is one of the hardest but we are getting there one game at the time,” Ntšonyana said.

“My boys showed character. We gave them a tongue lashing during the interval. We had problems on the way with our car, we arrived late.”

Ntšonyana continued: “Our warm up was not good. We conceded early but we showed a lot of character coming from behind and scoring three goals. Big ups to our guys who came on from the bench, they did well. But we are coming, we will get there. but I can tell you now, it’s not easy.”

With eight points in the bag so far, Swallows will now turn their attention to a wounded Matlama side this weekend.

The champions are looking to bounce back from their defeat against Bantu on Sunday which was their third defeat in a row.

Tlalane Phahla