The SPLFA’s boys and girls development teams recorded mixed results at the First National Bank sponsored Youth Championship
THE SOL PLAATJE Local Football Association’s boys and girls development teams recorded mixed results at the First National Bank sponsored Youth Championship which was held over three days last week at the Nike centre in Soweto, Gauteng.
Spakes Matile, the boy’s team development coach who was part of the entourage to Gauteng, said his charges won all of their round robin games and only lost out to Thoyandou in the final.
“We won our first game against Mthatha XI. Our boys scored three goals to which they had no replay,” Matile said.
The team then went on to clobber the boy’s team from George in the Western Cape 3-2 in their second match. They went a gear up in momentum when they next met the Pietermaritzburg XI and promptly slashed them 4-1.
This set of results in the round robin stage set the Diamond City up for a final appearance against Thohoyandou XI who unfortunately beat them by a single goal (1-0).
The Diamond City lasses, for their part, came away from the tournament with heavy losses and valuable lessons. Their first encounter was a 3-1 loss against Mthatha girls. Then they recorded another loss against Thohoyandou as well as George XI who inflicted more punishment on the Northern Cape ambassadors.
Matile, who was on the bench as assistant to head coach Wendy August for the girl’s team, said they were not disheartened by the outcome for the girls as this was “a building exercise” for the girl’s squad.
“The girls junior team has in any event qualified for this tournament for the next three years. What we experienced here was a valuable lesson in our building process. From here onwards things can only improve for us,” he said.
