Bellevue Winners Park booked a place in the semifinal stage of the Safa second division league Nedbank Cup by winning both their matches at the Nkowankowa Stadium in Tzaneen last Sunday.
Their first match was against The Dolphins, whom they beat 2-0. Winners Park wrapped up their programme when they beat Joe Express 4-1 later in the afternoon.
Their game against The Dolphins started at a slow pace, with the teams studying each other’s weak points. The Dolphins threatened to score in the 24th minute. Their overlapping midfielder, David Nkambula, was unlucky as his close-range volley missed the goal mouth by inches. As if that was not good enough to stir the team’s enthusiastic fans, Lesedi Kgasago committed a similar blunder nine minutes afterwards.
Realizing that their strikers were not showing any sign of commitment, the Dolphin’s sweeper, Bornwise Molobo, abandoned his position and moved forward to add to the number of strikers. That gave the opponents a good chance to invade the Dolphins' danger area.
No goal was seen during the first half, despite the fact that Winners Park were unstoppable in the last 15 minutes.
The last half saw Winners Park display entertaining football. Their right winger, Velile Mdaka, tried his luck with a long-range volley in the 54th minute. The ball hit the crossbar and landed outside the field of play for a goal kick. It was in the 60th minute when Winners Park opened their account. Their slender striker, Walter Chuma, scored with a ground cutter.
The referee, Mr Eric Munyai, warned Vusimuzi Manyoni of Winners Park with a card for retaliation three minutes thereafter. Winners Park increased the margin in the 75th minute. Mpho Masenamela beat the keeper with a header after a corner kick that was taken by Zondi Mbuso. The Dolphins did not panic, despite trailing with two goals. They continued to play like a team to the finish.