PETERSEN ON THE MDC TEAM: GREAT START, LONG WAY TO GO
13 April 2021
Maritzburg United's Multichoice Diski Challenge (MDC) coach Peter Petersen was pleased to have seen his charges off to a winning start last weekend with an emphatic 4-2 win over Chippa United at the Harry Gwala Stadium.
The match marked the start of the MDC reserve league, which had been delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
One of the biggest challenges therefore for Petersen and his technical team has been keeping the MDC players match sharp.
"It hasn't been easy," Petersen told MUFC media. "But on the inside with the technical team we had internal friendlies always happening.
"We couldn't go outside because of the Covid restrictions. So I think from that side, the technical team has done well just to make sure the boys stayed fresh and on their toes and got the minutes so that that were ready when the games did start."
Petersen, the former Team of Choice right-back, was content with the winning start but won't be getting too carried away with the victory, saying there is still lots of graft to be put in.
"They are still a long way off, but it was a good start so far," he said.
"The goals were good, four goals, could have been more. From the performance side there is still a lot of work to be done. You can see they haven't played for 90 minutes in a long time.
"So I think step by step they'll build and get back to the 90 minutes full match fitness."
On target for the Team of Choice against the Chippa MDC team were Bongokuhle Hlongwane, Keletso Sifama, and Asanda Buthelezi, who netted a brace.
Asked to comment on Buthelezi's performance, Petersen had some words of advice for the younger players in the squad.
"Buthelezi's doing very well. He's still very young, just 18-years-old. You know with the young players, they are one day on top of their game and not so the next day. So it's for them to become more consistent and just take it from there."
Next up for United's MDC side is a KwaZulu-Natal derby against Golden Arrows at the Sugar Ray Xulu on Saturday morning. The Maritzburg PSL side are only in action again on April 23 when they face Baroka FC at the Thohoyandou Stadium.
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