'Weslians’ prove to be the real Indoda for the Hub City! (At the Trade Fair grounds)
Wanderers.......................1(1)
Ndoda 25th
Pirates.................................0(0)

MANZINI – It was all about revenge and of course, the battle of the Manzini city between Manzini Wanderers and Moneni Pirates when the two elite league sides clashed at the Trade Fair Stadium in an average MTN League game before over 2000 supporters who braved the somewhat chilly weather.

The revenge emanated from that heartbreaking Swazi Telecom Charity Cup defeat Wanderers suffered at the hands of the same side and it had to be striker Ndoda Mthethwa who wins it for the Weslians. He pounced on a well timed through ball by classy Zimbabwean midfielder Hloniphani Ndebele in the 25th minute after a defensive error by Andile Makhubu who failed to clear from a free kick.

Speedy as he is, he bolted through two defenders and scored past the advancing Pirates goalkeeper Pride Zendera who pulled a couple of saves to ensure that his side did not lose by an embarrassing scoreline in the end. Ndoda scored the goal after missing gilt-edged chances in five minutes into the game when he came face to face with Zendera but shot straight into him and then again in the 11th minute but still had the shot punched for a fruitless corner kick.

Pirates responded with striker Kassim Kamaru who made a stunning turn in front of Wanderers players and got clear to shoot at goal but his effort went agonisingly wide when the team’s supporters were already up ready to celebrate in the 9th minute. As Wanderers were the dominant side, with Hloniphani easily winning the midfield battle, he located a dashing Timothy ‘Timo’ Mathonsi on the right whose cross was headed inches wide by Doctor Nxumalo in the 31st.

Just at the stroke of half time, Pirates got a rare chance at goal but Andile’s header was acrobatically punched out for a corner by Wanderers goalkeeper Sandile Ginindza. The teams went for the breather with Wanderers comfortably on the lead such that Pirates coach Mlamuli ‘Sputla’ Zwane made an early substitution in the 30th minute, resting Bongani Dlamini for Bertram Dlamini as he needed to strengthen his attack.

As referee Mbongiseni Fakudze who had a brilliant game with his assistants blew for the start of the second half, Pirates started off like a house on fire and threatened to cancel out the lead with Bertram and Sebenele ‘Pienaar’ Dlamini causing all sort of trouble in the wings, however, nothing worked out. Bertram had to watch in disbelief when his long drive from a 52nd free kick was tipped just over the bar when it looked headed for the roof of the net.

Wanderers regained their footing and midfielder Timo saw his long range effort saved for a corner by the back footing Pirates’ Zendera a few minutes later while Zendera was again called to the rescue when Ndoda slipped in but his shot was unbelievably cleared for a corner by the Pirates’ goalkeeper who disallowed the former from scoring a hat trick.

The chances kept coming for Wanderers but it became clear that it was going to be that solitary goal for them when even man of the match Hloniphani Ndebele watched in agony his nicely looped effort miss target by inches when he had even started celebrating in the closing 15 minutes of the game with Ndoda also coming close in the 85th minute but also hit wide.

Pirate finished the game a man down after Pirates defender and captain Moses Zwane was given a second yellow and consequently a red card. However, his team tried to soldier on but Wanderers was just so to into the game and won everything that came their way until the last whistle. of the game everyone had counted a goal but somehow the ball bounced off target with the Pirates goalkeeper well beaten.