TS Galaxy Head Coach Owen Da Gama was full of praise for their goalscorer in the 1-1 draw with Orlando Pirates, Masilake Phohlongo, who was making his first start for the club.
Phohlongo was playing his first football match in almost five months, having last featured for Ajax Cape Town in the Glad Africa Championship in August.
When asked by iDiski Times about ‘Scara’, Da Gama says he was delighted by the impact of the left-footed player, though knew he wasn’t ready for 90 minutes yet.
Da Gama says that the former Ajax development player had always been touted as a potential star, and when he saw him at training, he saw something special.
“Ja, you know, you look at history of this boy, you know he was a big talent,” Da Gama said in the post match digital press conference.
“He was supposed to be this young big talent, and obviously things didn’t go his way, and you know when I saw him at training, I realised there is something very special here.”
“I was not even sure if he would play 45 minutes, because he hasn’t really played at all, but we threw him in the deep end, and he showed his class and his character, and he scored a brilliant goal.”
“Unfortunately he ran out wind and we had to replace him but I’m very very pleased with his performance.”
The Langa-born Phohlongo actually made his top flight debut back in the 2016/17 season. He came off the bench in December 2016 for Ajax, in a 3-0 win over Bloemfontein Celtic, in one of Stanley Menzo’s first games in charge at the Cape Town club. He scored his first goal a year later against Amazulu.
He was also a member of the Amajita squad at the 2017 Under-20 World Cup.
He left Ajax at the end of last season, before they were re-branded as Cape Town Spurs.
