It was more like a relay race on the athletics track than a studied Premier Soccer League (PSL) football clash as play hurtled from one end of the pitch to the other during a frantic 1-1 draw between Black Leopards and Bloemfontein Celtic at Thohoyandou on Saturday night.
And when it came to calculated finishing, the one side was as awful as the other as chances went begging with regular monotony throughout the 90 minutes — a chronic malaise in the PSL at this moment.
The trend was set early on when both Celtic and Leopards had golden opportunities of scoring within the opening three minutes, with Moses Spandeel the guilty party for Celtic and Siphiwe Masango the culprit for Leopards.
It came as a surprise when Myron Shongwe finally opened the score for Leopards with a close-range header in the 37th minute, with Kleinbooi Taaibos equalising for Celtic from 5m in the 55th minute.
Both teams took the field immersed in coaching problems following the resignations of Celtic’s Tony de Nobrega in mid-week and the mysterious non-appearance of Horst-Dieter Schmidt on the Leopards’ bench.
And while Boebie Solomons barked instructions to the Leopards players throughout the match from a seat in the grandstand, the former Wits University coach insisted afterwards he was no more than the technical assistant.
Leopards lost goalkeeper Mashudu Mampitha with a leg injury midway through the second half, but with the calibre of finishing it did not matter much who was in goal.
And while a draw was not exactly the result Celtic wanted, it elevated them to a position among the top eight league teams who will qualify for next season’s Supa8 tournament.
Leopards, on the other hand, gained a point that could help them avoid relegation — with the Limpopo team seemingly not changing their spots and set again to barely avoid the drop to the Mvela League by the skin of their teeth. — Sapa