Hanover Park FC goal poacher Yaseen Hartley ([pictured) believes they can go all the way to conquer Safa Western Cape’s ABC Motsepe Second Division title this season and to qualify for First Division playoffs.
The 24-year-old Hartley’s bravado stems from Hanover Park’s hard-fought and impressive victory of 4-3 over their closest rival, second placed Oriented Birds away in Plettenberg Bay this past weekend.
This tie was like a helter-skelter affair to say the least. It was the visitors from Cape Town who broke the deadlock just before the half-hour mark through defender Lionel Saal. Alphonso Roman doubled their lead minutes later but their joy was short lived as two quickfire goals in a space of minutes saw the homeside claw their way back to 2-2 at halftime.
With their tails up, Birds took control of proceedings early on in the second half and got their just reward with a penalty which was converted and saw them in the lead for the first time in the match.
However, the Brasse Vannie Park was determined to leave the Southern Cape with points in the bag to maintain their slender lead at the top of stream B, showed the necessary fighting spirit and character when Morne Abrahams restored parity late on the match while Roman completed his brace with the winning goal in the dying minutes.
Hartley believed this type of showing against a home team that has made their Kwanokuthula Stadium into a fortress since their promotion to the league two seasons ago, is an indication that coach Thulano Sikweza’s Hanover Park side could go all the way this season.
“Look, there are still a couple of matches to get through but I don’t foresee us taking our foot of the gas,” Hartley said to No Bones with Jones. “Our win in Plet over the weekend has shown what we are capable of and you know very few teams pick up a point, let alone three at their homeground.
Hanover Park has four matches remaining in the league of which three are at home. They welcome Seaside Spurson Friday evening followed by relegation candidates in Ubuntu Spartans and Infantry School (away) ending the season off with Ammar Soccer Academy.
“It is now our turn to lose as most of our remaining games are at home. But we will not take anything for granted as the league is also very unpredictable so we have to respect our opponents as well.
It looks certain that Hanover Park will face Zizwe United who is unstoppable in Stream to lift the provincial title.
“We know Zizwe has been there many times in the past but we don’t live in the past, do we? We will definitely give them a run for their money and should I think given what we have shown so far this season, we can conquer them as well,” Hartley concluded.
