DURBAN - Maritzburg United assistant coach Delron Buckley emphasised that the Team of Choice will need to stay motivated ahead of their DSTV Premiership encounter against Mamelodi Sundowns on Saturday.
The KwaZulu Natal side lost their fifth consecutive DSTV Premiership game and sixth in all competitions following their 2-1 defeat against SuperSport United at the Harry Gwala Stadium on Friday.
The game was Ernst Middendorp’s first in charge of Maritzburg in what is his fourth spell with the club. The German replaced Eric Tinkler who was sacked following the club’s poor start to the season.
Though they took the lead early on via a Ronwen Williams own goal, they were ultimately undone after Bradley Grobler notched a brace.
“It was a good and intensive game. We tried to break them down in midfield but caused two mistakes and they scored. At the end of the day, if you don’t score, you won’t win games,” said Buckley.
The Maritzburg players would have also been perturbed as a number of decisions seemed to go against them in the game. They had a Judas Moseamedi goal ruled out for offside in the second half. Replays have also shown that Grobler may have been offside when he fired in his side's second goal.
“I think there was a penalty and a few red-cards. You just have to keep going. Middendorp has a whole week ahead of the game against Sundowns. We are playing good football and our implementations are going well.
“We have to keep the players motivated and work on tactics. We have to hope that all goes well. We need a win and hopefully one win can change everything,” he added.
Maritzburg will have their work cut out in trying to contain defending champions Sundowns. Sundowns have started to find their groove again and most recently eased to victory over Stellenbosch FC last weekend.
Sundowns will most definitely go into the clash as favourites considering their form in comparison to Maritzburg. Masandawana has yet to lose a game in the league so far this season and have won four out of their five games to date.
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