Motor Action . . . . . . . . . . .0 Black Leopards . . . . . . . . .(1) 2 (Black Leopards won 3-1 on aggregate)
Pathetic is the only word that can describe Motor Action’s performance yesterday as the team crashed out of the Caf Confederation Cup preliminary round at the hands of South African minnows Black Leopards at Rufaro Stadium.
Having managed a 1-1 draw in the first leg at Peter Mokaba Stadium two weeks ago, many people had predicted an easy win for the Mighty Bulls in the second leg.
However, as it turned out, a sizeable number of fans who went to Rufaro Stadium yesterday left the match venue in despair after the home side dished out one of the worst performances by a side representing the country in any international competition.
Black Leopards midfielder Thabo Mongalo capitalised on poor marking and struck twice in both halves as last year’s horrific memories of Motor Action crashing out of the Champions League to Asec Mimosas of Ivory Coast at the same venue began to resurface. Motor Action coach Joey Antipas cut a lonely figure at the final whistle while assistant coach David George and captain Marlon Jani remained rooted to the bench long after the end of proceedings.
Mbada Diamonds Holdings competition manager Major Mahlangu, representing Motor Action’s premier sponsors in the competition, could be seen trying to comfort the trio who were clearly not sure of what had hit them.
Antipas, however, managed to stutter a few words. “It’s very disappointing to lose like this. We had possession and some good patterns of play to get into promising positions, but the finishing was poor. The killer instinct was missing. We also gave away two soft goals from set-pieces. There was no man marking in the box. It was just a bad day for us,” said Antipas.
Leopards assistant coach Abel Makhubole who was at the helm yesterday in the absence of coach Heric Vladislav, who could not travel to Harare because of visa complications, was over the moon. “I have no words to describe this, it’s unbelievable” said the visibly excited Makhubole.
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“These boys have done us proud. We came here with a plan to attack and you could see it from our formation.
“We used a 4-4-2 formation and managed to keep the shape for the entire match. We were not scared of them, the boys were very motivated for this match,” Makhubole added.
Motor Action were their own worst enemies yesterday as they created a handful of chances, enough to win any match, but the final ball was horrendous.
The other thing that was glaringly missing in the Motor Action squad was the fighting spirit, that zeal to push forward and win the match.
Even when they were one goal down, there was nothing to show that they wanted to win the match. They continued to pump the ball upfront, a tactic that the tall Leopards defenders were clearly comfortable with.
The only Mighty Bull player who can hold his head up high is Protasho Kabwe. He was full of running on the wings and his trickery caused mayhem for the wing-backs, but no one seemed to complement him. In the 73rd minute, the former Highlanders and Highfield United winger weaved past defenders, but watched in awe as his curling shot hit the outside of the upright. That was the closest Motor Action came to scoring yesterday.
