Ramatlaohle Ladies off to flying start in Sasol League Championships

Goals by Dimakatso Sehlabo, Moetsi Dikgale, and Tebogo Mnisi paved the way for an impressive start to the Limpopo side’s Group C journey, earning them three valuable points at  Dr. Petrus Molemela Stadium in Mangaung. 

The top two provincial teams will meet in the final for a prize of R200 000, with R100 000 going to the loser, while both teams will earn automatic promotion to next season’s Hollywoodbets Super League. 

This competition is set to culminate in the crowning of the champion on Sunday, and, speaking to SABC Sport, Ramatlaohle coach Betty Maseko has expressed her satisfaction with the team’s promising start.

"It was not an easy game. UCT can run, but I think we were lucky because we managed to see one of their games on Youtube, so it was easy for us to plan for them," explained the coach.

"So, it's because we saw their game, but they have young blood and they can run, they are full of energy. It was not an easy game really, we are happy for the first three points because of a win on the first day of the tournament - it's very much important.

"It now gives the ladies a morale boost, so we're looking forward to tomorrow's game."

On the other hand, UCT coach Ahmed Parker took full responsibility for the team’s loss, attributing it solely to their own performance, but he remains optimistic of bouncing back.

"We got off to a really good start, I think we caught the opponents by surprise there in the beginning, but we were the masters of our own destruction," said Parker.

"That was the major issue – a couple of errors on our side. I think, in the first 15-20 minutes we struggled to judge the flight of the ball, which is a lot different to what we've been used to playing at sea level, so with a little bit of altitude that did change things up.

"But I felt we settled into the game and got into it, we had some decent opportunities created, but the third goal was the sucker-punch, so we go forward from here."

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