February is De Sa’s silver lining

Despite another defeat at the weekend, Ajaxs coach Roger De Sa still managed to highlight one particular silver lining in the team's performance: Goalkeeper Jody February. Photo by: Ryan Wilkisky

Despite another defeat at the weekend, Ajaxs coach Roger De Sa still managed to highlight one particular silver lining in the team's performance: Goalkeeper Jody February. Photo by: Ryan Wilkisky

Published Oct 25, 2016

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Ajax Cape Town’s struggles haven’t diminished Roger de Sa’s enthusiasm and resolve in any way. In fact, despite another defeat at the weekend - in the first round of the Telkom Knockout - the Cape side’s coach still managed to highlight one particular silver lining in the team’s performance: Goalkeeper Jody February.

De Sa’s team is back in action Wednesday night when they host Wits in a PSL fixture - and, no doubt, the coach is expecting another polished display from his 20-year-old keeper.

Ajax’s regular number one for the last few seasons was Finn Anssi Jaakkola, who this season joined Reading in the English Championship.

Jaakkola’s departure opened the door for two promising Cape youngsters to duel for the number one jersey. Brandon Petersen, 22, played in Ajax’s opening five league games, while February, 20, was drafted into the starting team for the weekend’s Cup tie against SuperSport United.

De Sa, despite the 1-0 loss to SuperSport, was highly impressed with February’s performance. He gave some insight into his thinking around the two top-class Capetonians: “There’s not much between the two. Brandon played in the first five games, but I always knew that I would have to reward Jody for the work he’s been doing. For Saturday’s game, one of the main reasons I brought Jody into the team was because that was the same field (in Atteridgeville) where Brandon broke his leg two years ago. I didn’t want him getting flashbacks.

“But Jody’s performance was very good. If I have to fault anything, it’s probably his distribution, but that will come with time. To have two young, good keepers is fantastic.”

The Ajax coach, however, was fully aware that his team’s situation at present was fraught with danger. They are yet to win a game this season and, in the PSL, it’s not very wise to fall behind early. Because of the unpredictable nature of the league, it’s often very difficult to make up.

“We just have to keep believing and keep fighting,” said De Sa. “We have to persevere! Yes, there is pressure, but, in this sport, there’s pressure all the time. We are looking to win - we analyse our performances after every match and I have to say there wasn’t a single game in which we were outplayed. We’ve had bad moments, not bad games. In Wits, we’re in for another tough opponent. Remember that just recently Wits beat the current African champions (Sundowns) in the MTN8 final. I think Wits are one of the favourites for the league title.”

De Sa won’t be reading too much into Wits’ 3-1 defeat to Free Stars this past weekend. “I think you’ve got to credit Stars. They got their tactics right. It’ll be different for us on Wednesday ... we don’t have the type of personnel that Stars have, and we will be playing on a much bigger pitch.”

This week’s fixtures

PSL. Tonight: Chippa United v Bloemfontein Celtic

Tomorrow: Ajax v Wits (Cape Town Stadium, 7.30pm)

Friday: Maritzburg v Arrows; Chippa United v Platinum Stars

Telkom Knockout first round

Thursday: Mamelodi Sundowns v Polokwane City

Cape Tmes

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