NWU coach Amos Xabanisa said that the key to their 1-0 victory over UWC on Monday night was that his team had stuck to the gameplan.
Having drawn their opening match against NMMU in Port Elizabeth, the Mafikeng side rewarded their loyal fans in Mafikeng with a home victory in Round Two, although they did not have things all their own way against a tough UWC side.
Xabanisa said that whilst it had not been a walk in the park, his team showed good character to keep their focus in the second half.
“I am proud of the boys, they played good football and they did stick to the plan .We could not convert many chances we got in the second half, will work on it for the next game,” he said.
Starting the game in the ascendency, NWU’s Mogomotsi Molefe scored eight minutes in, after several shot at goals by the NWU team, to put them 1-0 up.
UWC slackened a bit in the first half, with NWU dominating and shooting at the visitors with full strength. Although the Cape side managed to hold out well under pressure.
A few injuries were experienced especially from the UWC team, but they still came out firing after half-time as they looked for an equaliser, although they could not find their way through the NWU defence.
UWC goalkeeper, Reon October had to be on top of his game in order to avoid letting in any more goals, which mostly were wasted opportunities by the NWU team.
UWC goalkeeper October was chosen as FNB man of the match and he congratulated NWU and said that it’s the first and last time they score against him.
“The game was very hard and we couldn’t keep up due to the altitude,” he explained.
The win sees NWU move up to third place on the standings after two rounds.
By Phenyo Mokgothu
