Teamwork is what drives City’s success

CAPE Town City captain Lebogang Manyama says one of the secrets to the team’s success this season is the absence of egos in the dressing-room.

City‚ who are surprisingly perched at the summit of the premiership table after 12 matches‚ are preparing for their first cup final in their maiden season in the Premier Soccer League.

They will take on Manyama’s former employers SuperSport United in the Telkom Knockout decider in Polokwane tomorrow‚ and he says the togetherness the team feels will be a big asset.

“We work hard‚ the one thing that has worked for us is that we work as a team‚ we work hard for each other‚ there are no star names here‚” Manyama says.

“We work for the common goal and that’s what has helped us so far.

“It’s a collective effort‚ everybody has come to the party.

“We work very well with each other.

“We are going to lose games‚ but when you fall down once you get up twice.

“Every time we have a bad game we take responsibility for it and move on.

“We don’t dwell too much on bad things and always look to improve.”

Manyama has scored a career high eight goals this season already and has received all-round praise.

But he says others in the side have been equally effective this year‚ and not just the attackers.

“Aubrey [Ngoma] has been unbelievable‚ our defence has been out of this world‚ even though we have conceded goals they have been from set-pieces and free-kicks that you cannot stop.

“I have never seen a team go through us‚ so you have to give credit to everybody.”

SuperSport are second on the log and a team Manyama knows well after a failed move there from Ajax Cape Town in January 2014.

“If you see how they are doing and how we are doing‚ there is not much of a difference‚” Manyama says.

“We have come with a new team and had to fight to earn our respect.

“We know the kind of squad and coach [Stuart Baxter] they have‚ and history they have in terms of winning cups.

“We have to give them a lot of respect‚ but they must also give us respect because we are not here by mistake,” he added. — TMG Digital