MM Platinum were crowned the ABC Motsepe League national champions yesterday after they defeated Magesi 1-0 at Olen Park Stadium in Potchefstroom.

The win came courtesy of a goal from substitute Sipho Mahlangu. The game needed one moment to open up and it came in the 74th minute when Mahlangu ran onto a quarterback pass and lobbed the goalkeeper to put the ball in the back of the net to give his side the win.

MM Platinum of Roodepoort, Gauteng, and Limpopo’s Magesi went to the game knowing that their promotion to the GladAfrica Championship had been guaranteed. They achieved that when each won the two pools in the round-robin playoffs fixtures. The two replace relegated Jomo Cosmos and TS Sporting. 

As the winners, MM Platimun walked away with R1m for being crowned champions of the third-tier league, while runners-up Magesi received R600,000. 

There was an all-female match officials team and both coaches are former professional footballers, Jackie Ledwaba (Magesi) and Ashraf Hendricks (MM Platinum)

The performance on the field was a reflection of how football is in the country. Both teams lacked sting, decision making and execution in the final third, hence there was one goal and very few shots on target. 

The teams, however, were both well coached and credit must go to their trainers. 

The players from both camps were impressive in the grasp of their football basics, clinical passing, good spatial awareness, body movement and looked well conditioned. Defensively the sides were sound and composed and not hasty when intercepting or clearing the ball. 

MM Platinum dominated the proceedings and had much of the ball while Magesi sat back and controlled the game without the ball. The quality in the second half dropped significantly as the players were tired after having played many games in a short space of time since the playoffs started. 

On Friday they both played and won their semifinal clashes, with Platinum beating Spear of the Nation from Eastern Cape and Magesi eliminating hosts North West University.