19 January 2008

Goldman – we need to keep a high standard

Maritzburg United goal keeper Tashrique Goldman has called upon his team-mates to maintain the level of performance they showed against Ajax Cape Town.

While Goldman was nominated as SABC's man-of-the-match for some outstanding saves and a generally commanding performance between the sticks, there were some fantastic displays from all over the pitch from a determined and committed United team.

Sipho Mngomezulu was a constant thorn in the flesh of the Ajax defence, Fadlu Davids put in a characteristically committed and brave performance, the entire defence was outstanding, Gary Goldstone and Tony Tzabedze both scored wonderful goals, youngster Jabulani Ncubeni made a promising debut as a substitute...the list goes on...

In his post match comments, Goldman emphasised the point that coach Gordon Igesund has been making - that the players are all 110% committed to the team's cause.

"We have really stuck together as a team - we knew that we had been struggling and we came here today knowing that we must give it our all - the coach told us that it (negative results) can't go on. We must stay focussed and work as a team to pull out of this."

Speaking to the official website today, Goldman thanked his team-mates for their ongoing support while he remained the club’s third choice goal minder.

"I felt overwhelmed (by the man-of-the-match performance against Ajax), and I could not have done it without the support of my creator, my parents, and my team-mates,” he said.

”This is not the first time we have played some excellent football this season, but we must be the unluckiest club in the league with some of the results that have gone against us, things just haven’t been falling for us on the day.

”But the team spirit has always remained good, the players have remained motivated and we knew that we would eventually turn the corner.”

Maritzburg must now faced a wounded SuperSport United side, who were thrashed 4-1 by Free State Stars on Saturday.

”Of course this is going to be a tough game but there are never any easy games in the PSL – we must maintain the high standard we set against Ajax,” added Goldman.

Coach Igesund was also thrilled with the result, which came against the league's top side.

“This was a huge game for us — we didn’t just turn the corner against anybody, we turned it against the leaders,” Igesund said.

The Woodburn Stadium was packed to the rafters on Saturday, with the fans giving amazing support to the side as they rallied behind the Team of Choice to create a '12th man’

“The crowd were magnificent,” the coach said. “To be honest, we weren’t sure what reception we would get, but from the first whistle the crowd were behind us and that is what makes Maritzburg so special.”

The club are appealing for fans to turn out in large numbers for the SuperSport match - students in school uniforms will be given free admission.