PRETORIA – Describing SuperSport United as a “small team that punches above their weight”, Morgan Gould believes Matsatsantsa a Pitori will get out of the rut they currently find themselves in.
And what better way to begin that process than with a victory in the Tshwane derby against league-leaders Mamelodi Sundowns at the Lucas Moripe Stadium tomorrow evening (kick-off 6pm).
“We’re trying to do better because we know we are in this position (a lowly 10th) with the same players we had last year (when they won the Nedbank Cup and reached the Caf Confederation Cup final). We were very fortunate and blessed to do what we did last year and we most definitely still want to do more,” Gould said.
For that to happen though, Gould and company must get the better of opposition which has not only generally had the better of this particular fixture but one also gunning for the championship.
That Sundowns will come into the match a little wounded after being held 1-1 by Free State Stars on Wednesday night, despite having had the chance to kill the match off as a contest in the first half, will make Matsatsantsa’s task all the more difficult.
Gould though is a seasoned veteran who thrives on such challenges and he is eagerly anticipating the clash.
“Sundowns is the best in the country, they are the best in the continent but we are going to give it our all. They are dripping with quality and whatever they do we will have to try and match them.”
That they find themselves at the opposite end of the table to Sundowns, who are seemingly destined to regain the championship they lost to Bidvest Wits last season, will add spice to the clash, Gould believes.
“It’s football at its best right now, they are up there and we are down there. It’s always interesting when Sundowns and SuperSport play. It’s never been a dull game.”
His biggest hope is that whoever is in charge of the game is invisible.
“I just hope, we don’t get one of those - the other persons, the ‘man of the match’. Let the game win. Don’t let the individual win. Let it be a free-flowing, entertaining game so that the people who are watching football for the first time can come back.”
The defender who won league titles with Chiefs and SuperSport in his previous tenure at the club was loath to talk about himself being the man to stop former teammate Jeremy Brockie from opening his account for Sundowns.
“Jeremy is a very good player,” he said “A very humble guy but lethal (striker). At the end of the day I need to do a job and he need to do a job too.”
The job Gould is keen to do is to help show youngsters that it is possible to achieve great things. I am not the most talented player and I’m not the most gifted player.
“But I always want to show that I did not get to where I got (multiple title winner) by someone pushing me nor my agent speaking to someone for a favour. I am pushing and I push until something happens because I want the young generations coming that though there might be setbacks, don’t give up.”
It will be with that spirit of fighting till the bitter end that SuperSport tackle the Tshwane derby, the fact that they are under no pressure to win anything notwithstanding.
“At SuperSport they don’t give us a mandate. We regard ourselves as a small team that punches above our weight.”
Given their current situation, they definitely will have to punch way above their present weight.