13 November 2019 – The SAFA Women’s National League has been a thrill-a-minute in its maiden season thus far, with certain teams looking to assert their initial dominance in the coming weeks.
Each of the twelve teams have enjoyed a mixed bag of fortunes in the first nine weeks of the competition with the two heavyweight Tshwane clubs still unbeaten and hoping to keep up this proud record.
Marquee club Mamelodi Sundowns as well as Tshwane University of Technology have both been in superb form and will be looking to continue their winning streak this upcoming weekend in front of their home crowds.
Even though there is no relegation threat, teams at the other end of the log will also be hoping to put in good showings for their loyal supporters and restore their pride.
Match-day ten will take place on Saturday the 16th of November as well as Sunday the 17th, this following a week’s break due to Banyana Banyana’s international friendly match against Japan.
The first of four matches on Saturday (all 3pm kick-offs) will see TUT playing host to fifth place Coal City Wizards. TUT will be aiming to keep the pressure on the log-leading Downs while Wizards will have a chance to break into the top four. The game will take place at TUT Main Stadium.
Thunderbirds Ladies will then entertain an inconsistent Durban Ladies as both clubs look to tighten up their leaky defenses with really poor goal differences at this stage of their tourney. Thunderbirds will be hoping to give their fans some much-needed cheer coming off their 6-0 thrashing at the hands of Downs in their last fixture. The match takes place at Jan Smuts Stadium.
High-flying First Touch Academy, who find themselves sitting comfortably in fourth position, travel to bottom-placed Richmond Ladies, who are in dire need of picking up some momentum. The club have one lone victory from nine completed games and will be under even more pressure with the game being televised live on national television on SABC 1 at Nike Centre Stadium.
In the day’s last fixture, the table-topping Downs play host to Golden Ladies in what will be a daunting trip to Mehlareng Stadium.
Ladies star left-back Reabetswe Molamu stated that the team will always give their best.
“We keep reaching for our goals and always display passion and we fight through the pain. In a previous game we even had to contend with a red card but we fought our way to victory until the final whistle.”
Sunday will see two key match-ups taking place, the first of which will see the much-fancied Bloem Celtic tackling tertiary outfit University of JHB in their own backyard at Soweto Campus Stadium. Celtic sit in third and should be happy with at least a point while their rivals will be pushing for a top-four position and will be going all out for the win. Kick-off is at 11h00.
In the weekend’s final game, Tsunami Queens entertain University of WC at Bohlokong Stadium in what should prove to be an exciting encounter. The Queens sit in eleventh spot and need a confidence booster while the visitors will also be pushing for a win to get into the top half of the table. Kick-off is at 15h00.