Johannesburg - Bernard Parker’s poor form in front of goal mirrored and probably also had an effect on Kaizer Chiefs’ disappointing run when they meekly surrendered the Absa Premiership title last season.
Amakhosi finished empty-handed with the joint-second worst strike rate among the clubs that finished in the top eight. Parker, the 2013/14 season Lesley Manyathela Golden Boot winner, scored a paltry two goals in that campaign.
The last of those came against Golden Arrows in November last year, stretching his dry spell to almost a year. The Sparta Macufe Cup helped the 30-year-old forward jog his memory on how to put the ball in the back of the net when Amakhosi beat Bloemfontein Celtic 4-1 on Sunday. He will now be looking to score in an official match, starting against Ajax Cape Town at Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday in one of the three “home” matches Chiefs will play in Durban. While Parker will be looking to end his dry spell, Amakhosi will be out to make it four wins in a row and continue their mini-revival.
“I think a mental switch has helped us turn things around because during the slow start that we had, we didn’t play badly,” Parker said. “We had a lot of energy and a lot of hard work in it. But the mental shift we had, after the team building exercises and the other things that we did to get ourselves in the right frame of mind, have definitely paid off. Those three games we won in a row came in nine days. There wasn’t much time for training. It was just a matter of correcting the previous mistakes and playing. The wins boosted our confidence sky high and the guys are in the right frame of mind.”
Chiefs will go into their match against the Urban Warriors after an almost two-week long break which came just as they were picking up steam. Mindful of losing that momentum, coach Steve Komphela fielded a relatively strong side against Celtic with a sprinkling of fringe players. The aim was to keep that winning momentum going because after their poor display last season, every victory counts for the club. Keeping that momentum is key because, Parker argues, their bad season in the last campaign was fuelled by a lack of a strong mind-set, with every negative result and criticism denting their confidence.
“In the previous games, when opponents would score against us we would drop our heads a little bit (fearful of a defeat),” Parker said. “If we missed chances we would be frustrated. It was that little bit of psychological barrier that we needed to overcome. We are psyched up for anything now. We win our second balls. We fight to improve and get better. That’s how it should be like. I just hope that we continue. I’ll make sure as a senior player I push the lads and ensure that we keep this up.”
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The Star