DSTV Prem: When is Your Team Scoring and Conceding?

The festive break is around the corner. It allows all teams time to reflect on their performances since the league began in August for the new season. Some teams blossomed, some had nervous starts, some broke down halfway through and some teams never got past first gear. For fans, it is also an intriguing time of year especially since the January transfer market is just around the corner. For now, Laduma Analytics brings you the goal breakdown of which team scored early or late in their approach to games.

League Goals Scored

Mamelodi Sundowns take the crown for the most goals scored before the festive break whilst Swallows FC, despite new management are still struggling to find the back of the net. We previously mentioned that this season, the league is experiencing a lack of goals along with a few pointers as to why that may be. This continues to be the case as we roll into the festive break. Having said that, we know that most goals occur inside the penalty box but do we also know ‘when’ most of the goals fall in the DSTV Premiership? Spoiler alert: The second half.

Of the 257 goals scored so far this season, over half of the goals (132) or (51%) occur in the second half of games. More specifically, 56 of the 135 goals occur in the last 15 minutes of the second half. The other proportion of goals either occur in the first half; 98 goals (38%) and the remaining 27 goals (11%) occur in the injury-time period of games. Considering this period is mostly only a few minutes long, 27 goals feels very significant to possibly change a game. This may suggest that teams are either more defensive in the first period of a match wanting to avoid conceding goals at an early stage and instead rely on last-ditch attacks to win or draw a game, one which we have seen plenty of this season.

Team Goals Scored

Knowing now that most goals occur in the second half of matches, what happens on a team by team basis? Can we identify teams who come out of the blocks sprinting or do most rely on the 75 to 90-minute mark of the game for a goal?

There are a few but minor differences between teams as the graph above shows. For example, Sekhukhune United despite their strong league position are the only team to not score a goal within the first 15 minute period of a match starting. They also haven’t scored a goal since they beat SuperSport United away at the beginning of the month.

Marumo Gallants only scored their first goal in the opening 15 minutes of a league match against Orlando Pirates last Monday.

The fans of Maritzburg United have little to cheer about in the first half. The Team of Choice holds the number one spot for the least number of goals scored in the first half this season. They have only found the net 10 times, once against Baroka FC in September and the other against Swallows FC at the beginning of December.

Stellenbosch FC have been very strong out of the blocks in the first 15 minutes of a game, whilst Chiefs have been strong coming out of the break and Mamelodi Sundowns are particularly dangerous in the closing minutes of a game.

Goals Conceded

It has been unbelievable to watch how strong Mamelodi Sundowns have been defensively. Apart from that, we had previously mentioned Sekhukhune United’s attack. Their defence has been solid as well, especially for newcomers to the league.

The most interesting aspects remain the timeline of when teams are conceding goals. For instance, there are four teams (Mamelodi Sundowns, AmaZulu FC, Stellenbosch FC & Lamontville Golden Arrows) who have yet to concede a goal within the first 15 minutes of a game. A further four teams had only conceded 1 goal during this time period – Sekhukhune United, SuperSport United, Kaizer Chiefs and Marumo Gallants.

First v Second Half

Despite having already drawn more games in this campaign compared to their last, AmaZulu FC under Benni McCarthy remain only one of three teams that can differentiate themselves against the rest of the league. Usuthu, Baroka FC and Marumo Gallants are the only teams to have conceded more goals in the 1st half than in the 2nd half of their games. Everyone else has either conceded the same amount in both halves or more in the second half.