DURBAN - Thabo Nodada hopes his wonder strike against Orlando Pirates that earned the Cape Town City midfielder the Goal of the Month award for September and October will inspire his teammates.
He was formally presented with his award at the Citizens’ training ground in Hartleyvale on Monday.
Each of the goals selected during the monthly voting will go towards the list of goals that will be voted for the Absa-lutely Awesome Goal of the Season at the end of the season.
Nodada, rated by former coach Benni McCarthy as the consummate professional and good enough to play in any league in Europe, followed up his brace against SuperSport United with an absolute gem against Pirates during September.
The KwaZulu-Natal born 24-year-old picked up the ball 40m from goal on the left flank and on the charge dribbled past two Pirates players before beating goalkeeper Joris Delle with a thunderous drive that flew into the top corner of the net.
“Firstly, I am obviously very happy to win this award for the first time. I want to thank everyone who voted for me,” said Nodada, who made his top-flight debut in the 2015-16 season in the colours of Mpumalanga Black Aces - a club that sold its PSL status to former Ajax Cape Town boss John Comitis in 2016 who renamed the club Cape Town City.
“As a club, we’ve been going through a tough time in the league and that doesn’t make any sense because we’ve played good, attacking football,” added Nodada.
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— Kermit Romeo Erasmus (@Erasmus_95)
“But we will bounce back on Saturday against coastal rivals Chippa United and give our fans who always turn up in big numbers at Athlone Stadium something to cheer about. We owe it to them and it would be disgusting from our side if we were not to give it our all and reward them for taking the time out to support us through challenging times.”
City have won just three of their last 22 games and this season have managed two wins, seven draws and four losses. McCarthy parted with the club a month ago and they have since collected a 5-3 home victory over Polokwane City and one loss with two draws in the last two games under new Dutch coach Jan Olde Riekerink.
Nodada heaped praise on McCarthy for the huge role he played in his career and said the team, under its new coach, was trying to find the right balance together with a new combination.
“From my point of view, the first week or so I was dealing with emotions because the coach that left played a vital role in where I am today. Once I had that out, I was open to learning new things and giving the new coach ideas,” he said.
@Minenhlecr7
The Mercury
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