Magesi FC head coach Owen Da Gama has admitted that it feels good to be out of the relegation zone.
This is after Dikwena tṧa meetse narrowly defeated Richards Bay 1-0 in the league in Seshego on Tuesday to move to 14th place on the log with 20 points, just four points from the side in ninth position.
Da Gama says he expected the encounter to be tough, especially because his side was without some of their key players who are out with injury saying he was particularly pleased with how they defended.
“I’m very happy for the management because the support has been unbelievable,” answered Da Gama when asked by iDiski Times about the rise.
“To the players, you know we’ve been unfortunate with injuries, you know one of our best players [Wonderboy] Makhubu is out, then it was [Samuel] Darpoh out, and then it was [Lehlohonolo] Mtshali who was I think the Man of the Match in the last game for us he is also out.
“So we knew we were going to struggle because [Kayden] Rademeyer and [Tholang] Masegela, they haven’t played in a long time and we could see them tiring there.
“But in saying that, they covered every blade of grass and they worked hard and you could see that from a tactical perspective, we neutralized them [Richards Bay] in the middle and they had to resort to long balls.
“And I must say I don’t know how many corner kicks they got and how many set pieces they got, but the boys defended resolutely. They defended very well and for me that’s a good sign. That’s a very, very good sign if you can defend a lead.”
The former South African U23 team and Black Leopards mentor found the Limpopo side with six points and so far added 14. He says the difference between the side he had inherited and what he is building is in how they were defending.
“As I always say, it’s a team that played with a low block, very low block and it’s a team that conceded a lot of goals, I think the most from outside the big box,” added Da Gama.
“So we had to change that around because that was very, very expensive to play that way anything can happen. But the guys have been working tirelessly.
“Once we had a nice combination against SuperSport then we lost three players. So if we can just get a little bit consistency and the injured players are back, I think it will be a better but all respect to the boys today, they really worked hard.”
