STILL A LOT TO PLAY FOR:
EC Bees coach Chippa Njedu believes they can still catch ABC Motsepe League runaway log leaders Tornado
EC BEES returned to their winning ways when they thrashed Try Again 6-0 in their ABC Motsepe League encounter at the Bhisho Stadium on Saturday.
The impressive win elevated Bees to the second spot on the log standings with 31 points, trailing the log leaders Tornado by nine points.
Meanwhile, Try Again have been relegated to number 13 on the log with 14 points on the log standings.
Bees coach Chippa Njedu has quickly turned his attention to the league title and a spot in the playoffs for a short at First National Division soccer next season.
Njedu said as much as Tornado were still leading the pack, there was still hope of clinching the league if they continued winning their games and hope that the runaway leaders will drop some points.
“In football you can’t say it’s over until the final whistle is blown and teams in the league are not consistent – they win today, tomorrow they draw.
“But at the moment Tornado is winning it’s games so we are hopeful that if we win ours and focus on ourselves and not mind Tornado, we’ll get an opportunity to play them in the second round and we might close the gap,” said Njedu.
He said regardless of being focused on winning the third-tier league, having being drawn against an SAB League team, Mariveni FC in the Nedbank Cup last 32, was the big break they had been praying for. “We are prepared for the Nedbank [Cup] and we’ve been praying for this. Even last season when we played Orlando Pirates, we were hoping to play a team in our league at least … so that we can try and get through this stage and reach the last 16 teams at least. We have been playing at this stage [last 32 for two consecutive seasons], but now it’s about time we got a team we think we can handle.
“It’s up to us now to make sure that we play good football against Mariveni.
“They might be in the lower league but they beat a team in our level to get into the last 32 teams. So we won’t take them lightly.”
Try Again coach Abraham Bamila said his charges started by following their game plan which was to defend more so that Bees could not play in their territory.
“I think after we conceded two goals the boys were down but we continued to motivate them.
“And I think they did well because we expected a tough game from Bees, but we didn’t expect as much goals as we conceded.”
Bamila admitted that a lot of things went wrong during the game but he was going to start a consultation process that will give them solutions to their problems.
“I will sit down with the rest of the management team so we can find ways to avoid what happened here today.
“But for a new team in the league we have done well because we’re not at the bottom of the log, and I think we are gradually improving.”
Bamila gave credit to the “Crazy Gang” for a stunning performance and said his charges still had time to improve so they could finish among the top 10 teams in the league.
Other results: Lion City 0 Sibanye 2, EC Bees 6 Try Again 0, Future Tigers 2 Swartkop Valley United Brothers 1, FC Buffalo 0 Tornado 6, Highbury 0 Mthatha City 1, City Lads 2 Butterworth 2, Bizana Pondo Chiefs 3 PE Stars 1, Spears 1 Matta Milan 1.