The Safa Buffalo City Easter Tournament kicked off later than the scheduled time at the Jan Smuts Stadium in East London on Friday.
Nevertheless, the first Mdantsane derby outside Mdantsane this year saw bitter rivals, Relatives and African Bombers collide in the third match of the day.
The match was exhilarating end to end stuff with Relatives left wing, Lindokuhle “Tsotsi Number 1” Ndlela making it a one-man show with three goals in the opening 20 minutes.
Ndlela opened with a goal from the spot kick after his teammate, Siphosethu Mbambo was taken down inside the penalty box.
The gifted footballer, Ndlela, was not finished as he came back barely five minutes later with a thunderous grass-cutter from outside the box to make it 2-0 for Relatives.
The second goal proved a confidence booster for the influential “Number 1 Tsotsi” because he was back 10 minutes later as he got into the opposition’s box and finished off with an explosive strike for a hat-trick.
Going into the break, Relatives were comfortably 3-0 up against opponents who never gave up.
When the second half resumed, Relatives again took charge and it was only a matter of time before their top striker, Mfundo “Banda” Bonyongo registered his name among the scorers.
Five minutes back from the break, “Banda” received a well timed pass from Mbambo to curl the ball around the goalkeeper to put his side four goals ahead.
Just when everyone thought the game was finished, with few seconds to the final whistle, Ndlela finished his man of the match performance with a brilliant cross that found Inga Meth inside the box and he headed it in for an emphatic 5-0 victory for Relatives.
The first game was scheduled to start at 10am but only resumed more than an hour later when SAB Regional League sides, King Spurs and Black Eagles finally took to the field.
The game was a dull affair, most especially the opening half which finished goalless.
The final stanza was more or less the same but the only difference being a Ashley Newton goal for Spurs which happened to be the only of the game.
The Breidbach side bagged the all important three points but will regret not having scored more goals which may be needed when the group stages come to an end tomorrow afternoon.
What followed after was a high scoring game that produced five goals between Zebra United and Zwelitsha United – three for the latter.
Relatives are favourites to top their group and are among front-runners to win the tournament with a first prize of R24000.
Their convincing victory in the opener confirmed this but there is long way to go as they are likely to meet other strong clubs in the form of Parkside Sporting and Future Tigers in the knock-out stages.
Their next game will be this afternoon at 2pm against Rising Stars who they played to a two-all draw in the league last year.
They will finish their round robin campaign against Mighty Bucks tomorrow afternoon before the top two in every group progress to the last eight.
In the LFA category, Birmingham City triumphed 1-0 against Catch FC while Wonderful XI beat Dimbaza Callies 2-0.
In the third game, Violets from Breidbach emerged 1-0 victors in a face-off with their Mdantsane counterparts, Young Real Madrid.
Ndlela steals the show
Nevertheless, the first Mdantsane derby outside Mdantsane this year saw bitter rivals, Relatives and African Bombers collide in the third match of the day.
The match was exhilarating end to end stuff with Relatives left wing, Lindokuhle “Tsotsi Number 1” Ndlela making it a one-man show with three goals in the opening 20 minutes.
Ndlela opened with a goal from the spot kick after his teammate, Siphosethu Mbambo was taken down inside the penalty box.
The gifted footballer, Ndlela, was not finished as he came back barely five minutes later with a thunderous grass-cutter from outside the box to make it 2-0 for Relatives.
The second goal proved a confidence booster for the influential “Number 1 Tsotsi” because he was back 10 minutes later as he got into the opposition’s box and finished off with an explosive strike for a hat-trick.
Going into the break, Relatives were comfortably 3-0 up against opponents who never gave up.
When the second half resumed, Relatives again took charge and it was only a matter of time before their top striker, Mfundo “Banda” Bonyongo registered his name among the scorers.
Five minutes back from the break, “Banda” received a well timed pass from Mbambo to curl the ball around the goalkeeper to put his side four goals ahead.
Just when everyone thought the game was finished, with few seconds to the final whistle, Ndlela finished his man of the match performance with a brilliant cross that found Inga Meth inside the box and he headed it in for an emphatic 5-0 victory for Relatives.
The first game was scheduled to start at 10am but only resumed more than an hour later when SAB Regional League sides, King Spurs and Black Eagles finally took to the field.
The game was a dull affair, most especially the opening half which finished goalless.
The final stanza was more or less the same but the only difference being a Ashley Newton goal for Spurs which happened to be the only of the game.
The Breidbach side bagged the all important three points but will regret not having scored more goals which may be needed when the group stages come to an end tomorrow afternoon.
What followed after was a high scoring game that produced five goals between Zebra United and Zwelitsha United – three for the latter.
Relatives are favourites to top their group and are among front-runners to win the tournament with a first prize of R24000.
Their convincing victory in the opener confirmed this but there is long way to go as they are likely to meet other strong clubs in the form of Parkside Sporting and Future Tigers in the knock-out stages.
Their next game will be this afternoon at 2pm against Rising Stars who they played to a two-all draw in the league last year.
They will finish their round robin campaign against Mighty Bucks tomorrow afternoon before the top two in every group progress to the last eight.
In the LFA category, Birmingham City triumphed 1-0 against Catch FC while Wonderful XI beat Dimbaza Callies 2-0.
In the third game, Violets from Breidbach emerged 1-0 victors in a face-off with their Mdantsane counterparts, Young Real Madrid.
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