‘BIRDS’ GATECRASH E350 000 PARTY

MANZINI – Business as usual.

Mbabane Swallows are in a pulsating neck-and-neck battle with the two security forces teams, Young Buffaloes and Royal Leopard, in the enthralling race for the much-sought-after E350 000 MTN Premier League first round carrot. This award is reserved for the log leaders after the completion of the first round matches and currently, Buffaloes are leading the chasing pack alongside Leopard who occupy second spot with Swallows not far behind in third spot. Swallows yesterday made light work of Denver Sundowns at the Mavuso Sports Centre in what was an important 2-0 win that ensured that they maintained the pressure on the two security forces teams in the battle for the big prize. The win took the red and white glamour giants to 24 points, just two behind Leopard who have two games in hand and four points adrift Buffaloes, with the army giants also having a game in hand.

Face-off

The interesting part is that Leopard and Buffaloes will face-off in one of these pending games, a result that will go a long way in providing a clear indication on the destination of the E350 000 with four games now remaining before the end of the first round. Swallows made the game safe in the first half where they scored the two goals, first through lanky striker Sandile Hlatjwako who took his tally to six, just one behind current leading scorer Sabelo ‘Sikhali’ Ndzinisa, who could not find the back of the net in their 1-0 win over Malanti Chiefs yesterday at the Prince of Wales Ground.

Sandile’s goal came in the 35th minute, after a nice interchange of passes between Tony ‘TT’ Tsabedze and Kingu Pemba inside the box to fire a low shot past goalkeeper Lwethu Simelane. The second and final goal came five minutes before half time through the menacing James Nguluve, thanks to an embarrassing defensive mix-up between the Sundowns goalkeeper and a defender, allowing the stray ball to fall kindly for the hard-running ‘Birds’ striker to calmly place the shot onto the far corner of the net. The second half had a few thrilling moments as there were a few meaningful scoring chances created, with the only striking drama of this half witnessed in the battle between Denver’s defender Mandla Palma against his former Swallows teammates.

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