Polokwane – Delighted to have stopped the rot, Gordon Igesund used the occasion of his team’s first victory in four matches to jog the memories of those who were already foreseeing him swelling the ranks of the unemployed.
“We know I’ve been in this situation before – as you know with Moroka Swallows. When I joined them – last time – they had three points after 15 games, never mind six points after four or five games. But I’ve never brought that up, because we gotta just carry on and I know what I am doing; we will get it right and tonight was a sign of that.”
That sign was a workmanlike 2-1 Telkom Knockout first round victory over an attacking Polokwane City despite their having been down to 10 men for a significant part of the match.
The win brought to an end a three-match losing run that had most suggesting the multiple championship-winning coach could lose his job. But Igesund believes the idea he was under threat never crossed his or his players’ mind.
“We shouldn’t have been panicking about our situation. But people get very excited when things don’t go well and there’s a lot to talk about. The negativity is coming from everybody outside and the newspapers – if they want to write like that, that is fine. We will prove them (wrong), we have to work hard and sometimes the criticism is good for the players to read and take it and turn into positives. Not one player gave up and they put their lives on the line.”
One of those who sacrificed himself for the team was Bradley Grobler whose tackle late in the first half earned him a red card.
But SuperSport were already 2-1 up then courtesy of goals scored by Thuso Phala and Dove Wome in between Puleng Tlolane’s strike for the home side.
And Ronwen Williams literally put his body on the line to pull off some splendid saves – one of those seeing him deny Tlolane his second goal from the penalty spot just after the hour mark.
“This was a fantastic result and, being down to 10 men, this proved a lot of things to people. (It proved) that this team is together and wanting to play and hopefully we will get better and better. This was a big game for us.”
And while he would like us to believe otherwise, the result brought him huge relief given the pressure he was under following those three successive losses. - The Star