Tornado will take nothing for granted on the battlefront

TORNADO assistant coach Vuyisani Mangaliso says their players are mentally prepared for the National First Division (NFD) playoffs set for June 4 to 9 in Polokwane.

The former Amavarara goalkeeper coach said a lot had happened after they won the third-tier league season to qualify for a ticket to Limpopo.

Mangaliso said they needed to make sure that their players were mentally stable and aware of the stakes when they attempt to replace Mthatha Bucks as the only team from the province playing in NFD.

Tornado will take on Buya Msutu in their opening game at Turfloop University Fields, and after that they go up against the Dolphins.

He said winning the league with more than two games on hand was not a surprise to them, because they had planned every move they wanted to make in the 2017-18 season.

“It’s been an interesting season for me, especially now since we’ve become one of the biggest teams in the province. And for me to be given a big chance like this is huge.

“We’ve had good and bad times as a team but what’s important is that we’ve learnt quite a lot from those mistakes in such a short space of time.

“And when the coach called me after he was appointed interim coach of the team, he sold the whole idea of finishing the league in good time.

“So we expected everything to be like this when the season closed.”

Mangaliso said as the technical team they conducted research on how best they would achieve their ambition of gaining promotion.

“I played in this league for quite some time before starting my coaching career, so we knew what we wanted and what had to be done. But nothing was easy – everything came at a price.

“We wanted to win one game at a time and when it finally came to us that we had won the league, it took some time to sink in because we were so focused on each game.

“Hence we continued winning, and that’s the approach we are going to adopt for the playoffs – one game at a time.”

Mangaliso said planning ahead was their secret weapon, and it had played a huge role in the 73 points they managed to collect this season.

“We don’t just do any old thing, we sit down and make plans for what we want to achieve.

“When we came back in January [second round of the season] we knew how many games we should win in order to qualify for the playoffs.

“And we’ve also had to plan for the playoffs, and we’ve signed players [Amandla “Amigo” Mhrwebi, Masixole “Rocky” Loli and Luyolo Nomandela] that we think can help us when we get to Polokwane.

Mangaliso said they were expecting a tough challenge from their opponents at the playoffs.

“We know what to expect from the playoffs, because all the teams that are going to be there are champions.

“We have been sharing with the players that have not experienced such tough competition on what to expect.

“The opponents Buya Msutu and Dolphins and others are number ones in their respective provinces, so we are expecting them to come at us and they also know that we won the league in good time.

“We’re not going there to add numbers – we plan to win. Trust me when I say we are ready for anything.

“Because we have worked a lot, not only on the physical side of the team but also on the players’ mental strength, which is very important for us.”