30 January 2008

IN TOUCH WITH THE P.R.O

Compliments of the new season, hoping that you all had a wonderful festive season. I certainly had a good time with my family.

I wish you all the best for 2009, stay positive and believe in yourself. May I also take this opportunity to welcome our goalkeeper coach, Ronnie Kannelelo. Welcome home “Big Man”.

By the end of the first half of the PSL season, we were sitting on a rather uncomfortable position. Considering the way we had started the season, expectations were created that we would be somewhere on the top half of the log, but that was not to be.

We have to be realistic about things, whichever way you look at it, the fact of the matter is that we are building a team from scratch, and at the level at which we are competing, we were bound to struggle in the process of building the team.

The coach and his technical staff, have worked tirelessly to try and get the team to gel as quickly as possible. There were areas where we needed to tighten up. This is why Siphiwe Mkhonza was signed, that is why Ronnie was brought on board, that is why Fanyana Dhladhla was signed.

As if that was not enough, “JB” AND “Chielies” were signed from our under 19 development side, thanks to Katz Naidoo for the work he has done with these boys. All of these signings were meant to try and balance the team in all departments, because we mean business.

The “Team of Choice”, has been playing very well in many games. We have been very unlucky not to be getting points, when we deserved to. Against Swallows, Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs, to mention a few games, we did not deserve to loose.

Our boys played very well, but again lady luck was not in our favor. Again, as if that was not enough, the fixture was ruthless against us, and correctly so, the Chairman referred to it as a “journey from hell”.

Consider this and conclude for yourself, Swallows on the 11th ( Sun.), Pirates on the 14th (Wed.), Ajax on the 17th ( Sat.), Supersport on the 21st ( Wed.) , Kaizer Chiefs on the 24th ( Sat.) and Celtic on the 28th ( Wed.). That means 6 games in 17 days. Six hard games that is. Anyone who can tell me if there is any other team with a stupid fixture like this, please step forward.

Enough of excuses now, I will leave that right there. Here is the scenario, after the Celtic game, we will be left with 11 games, only two of which will be played outside of Pietermaritzburg/Durban area. Of the 11, not less than 5 will be played at home at Woodburn Stadium.

If you consider the way our boys have been playing, we are positive that we are now going to be picking up some valuable points, to steer ourselves out of the relegation zone, and who knows, we may even end up somewhere in the middle of the table.

Let me assure you that everyone in the team is confident and very positive about what the team can deliver. We are not even thinking about relegation. We have good enough material and a very experienced coach to help the team to be on a respectable position on the log.

Let me end up by thanking all our supporters for standing by us even when the days are dark. The team needs you even more than before now, as we kick off the campaign of collecting points. “PLEASE MAKE SOME NOOOOISE, UMSINDO!!!!”

Moja

Brian “BZ” Zuma