Bucks determined to break free of their distressing rut
MTHATHA Bucks striker Mpho Erasmus says a win against Ubuntu Cape Town at Athlone Stadium on Saturday is their one-way ticket out of the danger zone.
Bucks last weekend played a 1-1 stalemate against Black Leopards at Mthatha Stadium, a result that earned them a point. Hence they were relegated to the basement of the National First Division table.
Erasmus said they tried every trick in the book to sneak goals during that game but nothing came off it.
“When you playing at home you expect to win, but then again we were unlucky and we couldn’t score any goals against [Black] Leopards.
“We tried our best and there was nothing we could do during that game because we had chances, but we just couldn’t finish well. And in football you get those kind of games where you throw in everything, but if it’s not your day, it’s not your day.”
Erasmus said even though they wanted a win badly, a point was better than nothing signalling an improvement.
“At least we getting a point in each game we play. We might be at the basement of the log-standings, but our confidence is not low, and that’s because of these points we picking up here and there.
“If we were losing it was going to be a challenge but fans could have seen that we threw everything we had at Black Leopards, and could’ve hurt them like we wanted to. Even the management is fully behind the team and as we are going to Cape Town we’ll return with three full points.”
The Bucks leading goalscorer said almost every team they played gave them credit for the efforts on the pitch including AmaZulu after the Nedbank Cup game [lost 3-0 on penalties].
“Even AmaZulu coach Cavin Johnson with some of his players spoke to us and gave us the thumbs up for a job well done. They said we didn’t deserve to be where we are on the log-standings. So I think we just have bad luck for now, but every team passes through this unpleasant phase and it will pass – I’m sure of it.”
Erasmus said their two upcoming fixtures were must-wins and they stood a good chance of climbing up the log-standings if they win on Saturday. “We are going away to Ubuntu and when we return we’ll be hosting Uthongathi at home so we must get maximum points in both those games.
“But I don’t want to dwell much on the game against Uthongathi because it’s still far away, the most important one is against Ubuntu this weekend.
“They have 21 points and we have 20 points so if we win that game we’ll go up to number 12 on the log-standings. Because I think four teams are facing relegation like us, but we will get out this, and I believe that this is a learning curve for us as Bucks players. So that when we rise again we don’t make the same mistakes we’ve made in the past.
“And we’ve all committed ourselves to this one cause of redeeming the team and our performance on the field shows that we want to win and that’s why I’m saying we are going to return with three points from Cape Town.”