Cape Times

Davids takes Maritzburg reins as De Sa quits second job this season

- Kamlesh Gosai and Mazola Molefe

DURBAN: The coaching rollercoas­ter has taken another twist with Maritzburg United and Roger de Sa parting ways less than three months after their union.

According to a statement released by the Midlands club, De Sa, pictured, handed in his resignatio­n on Wednesday, citing family commitment­s in Cape Town.

This follows recent shakeups at Baroka FC, and Polokwane City where Belgian trainer Luc Eymael also resigned for personal reasons, before applying for a position at Bloemfonte­in Celtic.

This was De Sa’s second resignatio­n of the campaign – he stepped down from Ajax Cape Town in October following a winless start in the league with the Urban Warriors.

His track record at Maritzburg was disappoint­ing as well, with one win and one draw in six PSL matches. Maritzburg also bombed out of the Nedbank Cup in their first game of the competitio­n, which killed the club’s aspiration­s of reaching at least one cup final.

“The coach informed me that he had to go back to Cape Town to attend to family commitment­s, and I had to respect that. He was with us for only seven weeks, but I thank him for the time he spent here and I wish him well for the future. Fadlu (Davids) will take over the reins; he will be supported by the existing technical team until the end of the season,” said Maritzburg chairman Farook Kadodia.

The Team of Choice will be reverting to assistant coach Davids as caretaker coach for the second time this term. The former Maritzburg striker took charge briefly late last year when Ernst Middendorp resigned in November.

Under De Sa’s watch Maritzburg dropped to 10th position.

In their last three outings Maritzburg lost away to relegation-threatened Highlands Park, and were second best to neighbours Golden Arrows in league and cup games.

Maritzburg host Ajax upon resumption of the league on April 1, following the current Fifa internatio­nal break. Should they lose, Maritzburg would swop places with Ajax, who are one point and two positions below them.

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