Bees striker admits to butterflies

Tshange respects Downs, will not let it get to him

FLEDGLING EC Bees striker Samkelo “Mancane” Tshange, believes his dreams of playing top-flight football are creeping ever so closer.

The Bees are doing their final preparations ahead of their Nedbank Cup encounter against Mamelodi Sundowns at Loftus on Tuesday.

Tshange, who is Bees’ youngest player, has hit the back of the net four times for his club this season, and said he was excited to be in the team to take on the Brazilians in the last16 of the R7-million cup competition.

The youngster admitted he was nervous going in to this crucial encounter, but said he was confident he could easily outsmart Chloorkop defender, Ricardo Nascimento in Sundowns’ defence to sneak in a goal.

“I am scared a little, but what I know is that we’ll all be on the same field playing one ball and everything will be the same,” he said.

“For now I’m just scared of the name Sundowns and nothing else, Versfeld Stadium but when we are inside the tunnel – we all will be equal.”

The dangerous right-wing said at first he was having a difficult time adjusting to the fact that he’ll be running next to the likes of Sundowns’ Bafana Bafana striker, Percy Tau, but has come to terms with it.

“Especially since I’m small and young, but I know once I set foot on that pitch I’ll do just fine.

“I can go against the Sundowns defence because from what I’ve gathered they are not consistent enough and that’s what we aim to capitalise on.

“For instance [Ricardo] Nascimento is very good when it comes to moving the ball forward but if you talk about marking a player – he can’t. Especially if he goes against a short person like me – he always has hard time getting the ball.”

Tshange said he has to keep pinching himself every morning, when he wakes up because he can’t believe that they are actually among the last 16 teams in the lucrative tournament.

“It’s like my dreams are really coming true now here at Bees, because we as young players are getting a good profile now.

“Playing a big team will give us the exposure we need and even Sundowns could also take in players from our team, so this is big for us.

“Because they even have MDC teams so this is our chance to make it and take the Bees name to greater heights at the same time.”

He said playing at a big venue like Loftus as opposed to their intimate homeground – Bhisho Stadium was a challenge they were also prepared for. “When you are in front of many fans they can get to you, but as players we can switch off and not focus on them but the game.

“So when you enter the pitch they might be intimidating but when you start playing, you have to forget about them. It can also be a problem playing in a big stadium with a clever team but our coaches have given us clear instructions on how to stick to our game-plan.

“So we’re going there as the underdogs and they might realise eventually that we can beat them.”