#TuksFootball: “We now realise there is not such a thing as an easy game in the Varsity Football tournament,” says Nqobile Khumalo

Posted on September 12, 2021

Another year, another tournament, but some things seemingly never changes for the TuksFootball team when it comes to the Varsity Football tournament. After two games, they find themselves again with their backs to the wall. 

In the first encounter, they played to a one-all-draw against TUT. On Friday, the team lost 3-1 against Kovsies. It means, for now, Tuks are jointly second last on the log. 

The next clash against Wits is a must-win game. Luckily the statistics favour Tuks. In the past, Tuks also initially lagged at the bottom half of the log. But then they get their act together and start to win.

On Friday, Tuks dominated in the first 20 or so minutes against Kovsies. Unfortunately, they were not able to capitalise on the opportunities. 

The turning point in the game came about with three minutes to play in the first half. Kovsies's Sello Diphoko had a shot at goal. As luck would have the ball deflected from Blessing Mabasa's body into the goalposts. He scored again in the 52nd minute and completed his hat trick in the 76th minute. 

Alex Stothard scored a consolation goal for Tuks during the dying minutes of the game. 

"We are very disappointed with the result. I think we dropped our heads once the second goal had gone in. Still, there was some good football played by us during the game.  We will regroup and fix our mistakes against Wits. We need to as we will be going all out to ensure we contest the semifinals," Stothard said. 

According to Tuks vice-captain, Nqobile Kumalo, they underestimated Kovsies. 

"We got punished. Maybe it is a good thing. I see it as a wake-up call. We now realise there is not such a thing as an easy game in the Varsity Football tournament. Against Wits, we will come to the 'party' and play our way. The Tuks way."

The kick-off game against Wits is 14:00 on Monday, 13 September.  UJ plays Kovsies at 15:00; VUT faceoff to UKZN at 16:00 while Northwest plays TUT at 18:00. 

The Varsity Football Tournament is being played in a bio-bubble format at Tuks. The first bubble is from 8-15 September and the second from 22-28 September. The final will be played on 4 October.

- Author Wilhelm De Swardt

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