By: Sekonyela Qaitsane
Lesotho Women Super League (WSL) top goal scorer for 2023/24 season, Nthabeleng Potsane receives massive praise from Coach Lengana Nkhethoa at LDF ladies.
Potsane who is a serial golden boot winner has topped the WSL goal scoring charts for the second season in a row by 18 goals this season, four goals shy of her last season tally of 22. Both seasons she led LDF ladies to premiership triumph.
Topping goal scoring charts is no fluke for Potsane who has done so since high school football, and all the way up.
Scoring goals is what she does and coach Nkhethoa is confident that the world is yet to see more from the 26 year old who hails from Ha-Phepheng, Mafeteng.
Speaking to Informative Newspaper, Nkhethoa shares that when he first met Potsane at the club in 2020, he felt she was an ‘unpolished diamond’. Technique, striker movements and understanding of tactics were some of the traits she lacked to become a complete player, according to Nkhethoa.
“With the energy and pace she possesses you could feel that if she had technique, she would become unstoppable. So we put it upon ourselves with the technical team to introduce these crucial aspects to her game and help her become a complete player and striker.
It took her some time to understand and implement the new way of doing things but her being a humble person that is always open and ready to learn, helped. She grasped very quickly and here we are now, a top goal scorer for the second season in a row in the womens elite league” he alludes.
Nkhethoa is of the idea that at the moment Potsane comes second to none in womens football in Lesotho. He believes that with constant international exposure, the LDF and Mehalalitoe star will attract scouts from topflight leagues from abroad.
“I do not think there’s a player in the WSL that matches Potsane’s pace and work-rate at the moment. Those are the biggest strengths of her game. Potsane is the kind of player that will give you 100% in everything you ask of her. Even in training.
I therefore believe that she is ready to compete in any top club in South Africa at the moment. An advantage for her is that she is in the national team set up now and if she keeps working hard and focused, an opportunity will come her way” says the LDF Ladies mentor.
The WSL champions, LDF won this season’s premiership in a stunning fashion.
They won all of their 18 campaign games, scoring 89 goals and conceding only 3. They have collected maximum 54 points. Complete dominance!
The recipe for this perfect run Nkhethoa says is just hard work and determination from his players. Their secret weapon over their rivals he said was ball possession. A new strategy he and his technical team have instilled in the team wherein they starve their opponents of the ball and exploit their weakness in the process.
He says, to improve his team further, he has asked the LDF leadership for the team to have pre-season preparations outside the country, something which he said will motivate the girls to have a taste of international football. He says in the process, the players will get international exposure and hopefully get suitors.
Meanwhile, Potsane describes this season as a very difficult one for her, admitting that she nearly surrendered the golden boot, had it not been because of the support she gets from the coaches and teammates.
“As you can see that I scored fewer goals this season compared to the past one. This season was very difficult for me and I don’t really know what to point out as the cause of my struggles even though I started so well.
“Three games into the season I was already on 10 goals. From then until the end of the first round I didn’t score even a single goal and I felt so bad. My confidence was very low and I could nolonger take shots at goal as I had missed many of them” says Potsane.
She goes on to state the support she receives from her teammates and the coaching staff is “amazing and helpful” in her resurgence.
She managed to score 8 more goals in the second round to wrap the league and cement her position as the top goal scorer this campaign.
Potsane says skills and pace are her biggest strengths with most of her goals coming from inside the 18 area where she normally beats defenders to advance to better goal scoring positions.
During her childhood at primary level she says she was a sprinter and one of the coaches thought her pace could be useful to score goals in football. He invited her to play soccer and as they say, the rest is history!