Lesotho off to a flying start in Gqeberha
Lesotho captain Boitumelo ‘Queen’ Rabale scored a hat-trick to hand her country a 3-0 victory and bragging rights in the battle of the Kingdom countries at the Hollywoodbets COSAFA Women’s Championship.
Mehalalitoe, as the Lesotho Women’s team is affectionately known, could have grabbed the lead as early as the second minute, but Litṧeoane Maloro squandered a good chance after she was played through by Rabale.
Eswatini had two good back-to-back chances a few minutes later to punish their opponents but they were also let down by lack of composure in the final third.
The deadlock was finally broken in the 6th minute with Rabale giving Lesotho the lead with a superb freekick from outside the penalty box.
The Lesotho captain, who only joined her country camp on Thursday morning after playing and scoring for Mamelodi Sundowns on Wednesday, unleashed a powerful shot that went past Eunice Mbuli for the opening goal of the match.
She doubled the lead for Lesotho in the 32nd minute heading the ball into the back of the net after Eswatini failed to clear their lines from a corner kick played by Ntṧabeng Peleha.
The match headed to the half-time break with Lesotho enjoying a comfortable 2-0 lead.
The second half started with Lesotho once again dominating ball possession and creating good goal scoring chances but failing to find the back of the net.
Eswatini had good chances of their own to get back into the game, however, they were also let down by poor finishing in the final third.
The impressive Rabale finally got her hat-trick in the dying minutes of the match slotting home from close range after Tṧoanelo Leboka did the dirty work down the left flank.
