Greyton Roses slip to long, painful defeat in Nedbank Cup Regional play-offs

The Greyton Roses suffered a slow and painful 3-1 defeat to Nanini Na All Stars in the quarter-finals of their Nedbank Cup Regional play-offs at the Hawston Sports Ground last weekend.

To say the team started poorly is an understatement but also understandable given an excruciating eight-hour wait for kick-off, not to mention another eight-hour wait for the second half.

The Nedbank Cup has a rich history in South Africa going back to its formation in 1971 as the Life Challenge Cup, and under its various guises as the Benson and Hedges Trophy, the Mainstay Cup and my personal favourite, the Bob Save Super Bowl, just to name a few.

Based loosely on the FA Cup, the competition provides a platform for smaller teams to compete with the country's top sides - and the tournament has seen its fair share of upsets over the years.

Against all odds

Just last season Crystal Lake FC from the fourth tier overcame the odds to secure a last-32 tie against Soweto giants Orlando Pirates and put up a reasonable fight before only going on to lose 6-0.

It's a far cry from the really one-sided results of the past when the likes of Powerlines FC lost 24-0 to Mamelodi Sundowns, back in 2012.

Unlike the English football pyramid, though, with its multiple levels, only the top two leagues in South Africa are professional.

The 16 Premiership clubs secure automatic entry into the last 32 of the Nedbank Cup, while 16 teams from the National First Division teams (or Motsepe Foundation Championship) play each other in a single qualifier for another eight spots.

This leaves eight places for teams in the ABC Motsepe League (third tier) and HollywoodBets Regional Leagues (fourth division), who face a number of regional and provincial play-offs.

Having arrived at the venue with an hour to prepare for a 10am start against Ithemba Sporting from Hermanus, the Roses accepted with mixed emotions a bye into the last eight, with Ithemba a no-show.

However, with only one unusable field for 16 teams, it meant that kick-off against All Stars would only be at 6pm.

Despite protestations that it does in fact get dark after sunset, it was somehow deemed necessary to play the game.

Both early goals were avoidable, with the defence still getting up to speed with a team that had already beaten tournament favourites Mighty Stars 3-1 earlier in the day, after coming back from a goal down.

Roses right-back Siphosethu Peter had raced out to clear a long ball but misjudged the bounce and allowed his man to cross for an easy finish.

It was a similar scenario for the second goal; only this time from the left, but credit to All Stars for finishing off a well-worked move.

Roses, though, never looked like conceding for the rest of the first half and came close to reducing the deficit on a number of occasions through attacking midfielder Thabiso Mangana and pacy winger Ayanda Khumalo.

But it was after a mazy run and cross from the left from playmaker Kiaan Louw that saw the club reduce the deficit, as Malawian midfielder Francisco Kandiado nodded home, just before a half-time break that lasted until 9am the next morning when play resumed.

From a coaching perspective, it was a massive victory just to get the majority of the team back the next morning, but there were a few notable changes, with Khumalo swapping his right flank for a pair of goalkeeper gloves and substitute winger Principal Mdiko coming in as a makeshift centre-back.

However the changes only appeared to galvanise the squad, while also presenting 17-year-old development player Casper Maphosa the opportunity to impress, with a short second-half cameo.

And it was only from a well-worked free-kick that All Stars were able to extend their lead and kill off the tie, and leave the Roses dreaming for another year, at least, of a place in the competition proper and a share of the R7million rand prize money on offer.

Bazuka FC ultimately went on to win the Overberg play-offs against a tired Standards FC, who started the final only 15 minutes after making it through the semis.

To stay up-to-date with the Roses' progress in the HollywoodBet SAFA Overberg Regional, visit their Facebook page.

To get involved with the team contact Trevor Kramer on trevor.kramer@gmail.com, or for general enquiries, contact greytonroses@gmail.com.

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