De Sa delight as stars return

Maritzburg United coach Roger de Sa Photo: Chris Ricco/BackpagePix

Maritzburg United coach Roger de Sa Photo: Chris Ricco/BackpagePix

Published Feb 22, 2017

Share

DURBAN - After two matches with new coach Roger de Sa, followed by a 10-day break, Maritzburg United will expect to be in a better position to reclaim an Absa Premiership top eight spot when they visit SuperSport United on Wednesday night.

The squad are buoyant after striker Andrea Fileccia recovered from injury, and there’s greater depth with midfielder Kurt Lentjies and defender Bevan Fransman back from suspension.

The break would have been equally useful, because it offered De Sa time to digest the draw (at Polokwane City) and a loss (against Kaizer Chiefs) in his first two matches in charge.

The performances in those outings left De Sa feeling that certain players could add more value, and as a team there was room for improvement in “match management”.

“It’s good to have Kurt back, and Fileccia as well. At least it gives us a few more options. (Defender) Themba (Shabalala) is also back in the team, which is good,” said the coach as he looked ahead to the challenge against SuperSport.

Only Kenyan defender Brian Onyango is out suspended.

De Sa used the break to work on improving their “attacking threats and delivery of set pieces”, areas where Zimbabwean striker Evans Rusike and winger Deolin Mekoa’s contributions will be important in Pretoria.

During their inactivity, the Team of Choice saw Golden

Arrows move further away, and they were overtaken by Chippa United.

At least a draw will lift the Midlands outfit back into the top half, at the expense of Chippa.

While Maritzburg went through video analysis sessions to tweak various aspects of their game, SuperSport were kept sharp with continental action.

They overcame Madagascan

opposition Elgeco Plus to advance to the second stage of the CAF Confederation Cup.

In between their home and away matches, they squeezed a point from a goalless draw at Free State Stars to stay in fourth place.

SuperSport will climb to second position with a win, provided Bidvest Wits fail to beat bottom side Baroka FC in Wednesday night’s other game.

Stuart Baxter’s outfit are further buoyed by the return to duty of Tefu Mashamaite, Ronwen Williams, Fagrie Lakay and Keegan Ritchie who recovered from various injuries.

Kiwi striker Jeremy Brockie is back among the goals for the home side, following a quiet first half of the season.

He scored in the CAF outing at the weekend and joined Thabo Mnyamane on five goals.

Together with Thuso Phala, who scored the lone goal in the

first round match in Pietermaritzburg, and Kingston Nkhatha, SuperSport will ask plenty questions of Maritzburg’s altered backline.

In Onyango’s absence, Fransman and Shabalala are likely to feature in central defence.

The Star

Related Topics: