Venue: Windhoek Draught Park Kimberley
Teams: Hungry Lions FC (white) vs. Venda Sporting Academy (blue)
Kick-off time: 15hoo
By: Rebaone Prophy
Hungry Lions FC missed out on qualifying for the next round of the 2023 Nedbank Cup competition as Venda Sporting Academy beat them 5-4 on penalties at the Windhoek Draught Park last Saturday.
Hungry Lions dominated the first 20 minutes of the match as Stanley Muishond scored the first goal in the tenth minute.
The rest of the 45 minutes ended with missed chances from both sides with bad finishing techniques displayed by players. Hungry Lions squandered many of their chances and missed extending their lead. They lost their lead as their opponents equalised later in the game.
The second half started much as the first half ended, with teams continuing to miss scoring chances and the link-up plays needed to be executed effectively, especially by Hungry Lions FC. Coaches from both sides made substitutions in the second half. However, the players brought on had no visible impact on proceedings.
Later in the second half, the team from Venda started to look promising as they started to break down the Hungry Lions defense more frequently. Fatigue set in, with the players not being match fit, added to the pressure that Hungry Lions could not withstand as Venda Sporting Academy equalised in the 89th minute, courtesy of Rhulani Manzini.
Extra time was needed as the score had deadlocked after ninety minutes. The teams went into extra time and it became evident that they weren’t prepared for it. The extra minutes of play tested their match fitness and resulted in lapses in concentration at crucial moments.
The match referee blew his whistle after 120 minutes, with the game still stalemate.
By now, players on both sides looked exhausted, many started cramping and needing a fitness physician’s attention before the penalty shoot-out. The two teams huddled up on the pitch. The two captains were seen motivating their teams.
The goal scorer from the Venda team, Manzini, walked up to the chalk spot to take the first penalty which he easily slotted into the net.
He was followed by Tau from Hungry Lions who comfortably did the same. Venda Academy scored all five penalties. This piled up a mountain of pressure on the Hungry Lion’s jersey number seven carrier Anslin Williams who missed the team’s final penalty.
Hungry Lions bowed out of the competition for the second season in a row, having being previously beaten by the University of Pretoria in the 2020-2021 season of the same competition.
Other results that come out of the Nedbank Cup preliminary round from last weekend see All Stars, Baroka, Magesi and Pretoria Callies go through to next round of the competition along with Casric Stars, Polokwane City and Cape Town Spurs.
Hungry Lions are left with time to put their focus and efforts into the National First Division League (NFD) where they are placed third after 12 matches played.
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