Limpopo Masters are the Collins Chabane champions

Limpopo Masters were crowned the annual Collins Chabane Mayors’ Tournament champions at the Malamulele Stadium on Sunday. They beat their Gauteng counterparts 5-3 in front of a capacity crowd.

The visitors from Gauteng looked hopeless in the first 20 minutes. The local legends capitalized and scored their opening goal in the 14^th minute.  The former Dynamos sharpshooter, Mpho Maleka, beat the opposition keeper, Brian Baloyi, with a ground cutter after a brilliant pass from Tshikani Nkondo.

That was a wake-up call to the Gauteng Masters. They fought back in the 24^th minute when Tapelo Liau forced his way through the defence of Limpopo and blasted in a rocket from close range.

Limpopo replaced Mike Rapatsa with Ishmael Maluleke in the 30^th minute. Maluleke made his presence felt when he scored his side’s second goal nine minutes before half time. Limpopo Masters were awarded a penalty in the 40^th minute. This after a defender of Gauteng handled the ball within the box. Ishmael Maluleke completed his brace from the penalty spot to bring the half-time score to 2-1.

That prompted the visitors’ coach, Mr Vusi Kharivhe, to replace keeper Baloyi with Silver Tshabalala. The local legends effected two more changes earlier in the last half. They replaced Andrew Rabotla and Morris Chauke with Alex Bapela and Sydney Moshikaro respectively.

They scored the last two goals in quick succession. Duks Machaka scored the fourth while the fifth came via Alex Bapela.

The Gauteng side did not lose hope, despite the fact that victory for Limpopo was almost certain. They pulled one back through Doctor Khumalo in the 78^th minute. The former Mamelodi Sundowns and Black Leopards striker, Benedict Vilakazi, score the third three minutes before the referee, Mr Rudzani Mulaudzi, blew the final whistle.

Date:08 September 2017

By: Frank Mavhungu

Frank is a Human Resources Manager at the Department of Public Works in Limpopo. He is the longest serving correspondent of the Mirror, having joined us at the end of 1990.  He mainly writes sports reports and resides at Tsianda Village. In 2004, Frank won the National Castle League Award, an award for the best reporter in the SAB league in South Africa.

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