Johannesburg - The past couple of months have seen Thabang Monare’s emotions undergo an insane roller-coaster ride. In May he suffered the disappointment of relegation with Jomo Cosmos. It was Ezenkosi who put him on the map after his career stagnated at University of Pretoria and FC AK.
While his career was stagnating, his friends’ Andile Jali and Aubrey Ngoma were taking off. But two months into the season with Bidvest Wits, he is a champion for the first time.
Monare and Xola Mlambo were the spine of the Clever Boys in their 3-0 MTN8 final win over Mamelodi Sundowns in Nelspruit. The pair snuffed out the threat of Hlompho Kekana and Tiyani Mabunda in central midfield while giving Daine Klate room to go forward with ease along with Elias Pelembe and Gabadinho Mhango on the flanks.
The victory was also made more special for Monare by the fact that it came in his home province.
But it will take more than one trophy for the 27-year-old from Embalenhle to forget what happened with Ezenkosi in May.
“Winning this trophy doesn’t wipe that away,” Monare said. “At the end of the day, in the future, people will say that Cosmos were relegated in 2016 and my name was on the list of players involved. I still believe that I could have done better to help the team stay in the league.
“This doesn’t wipe away what happened. Just like should we (Wits) lose tomorrow, that won’t wipe away that we won this cup in 2016. It’s just something that I will live with for the rest of my life, both being part of a team that got relegated and winning my first trophy in the PSL.
“Whatever obstacles we go through, we have to learn from them and never forget them because they shape us to be who we are.”
Jali was one of the first people to congratulate Monare on his maiden winners’ medal. Their friendship started during their time at AmaTuks. Jali’s career took off faster. He was signed by Orlando Pirates where he won the MTN8 back-to-back in 2010 and 2011. In 2014 he moved to Belgium to join KV Oostende while he has also become a key member of Bafana Bafana.
While Jali was winning trophies with Pirates, Monare was still trying to find his place in the first division until he was spotted by Jomo Sono. Local football’s talent scout supreme gave him the armband in the campaign that saw them gain promotion to the elite league two seasons ago. But that didn’t last long as they were relegated after just one season.
Monare joined the Clever Boys in June. He has made a seamless transition, helping the club become champions for the first time since 2010 with the weekend’s demolition of Sundowns.
But having had his share of disappointments after things looked to be going well for him, Monare is not getting carried away by having lifted this trophy. “It can only get better from here,” Monare said. “We have a good team and we worked hard. This is a sign of better things to come. But we can’t just say that fine we have a trophy, now we can relax’. We have to keep working hard because there are bigger targets to come.”
@extrastrongsa
The Star