Stakes are high for Tornado

After qualifying for the Nedbank last 32, clash with City now a must win

After qualifying for the Nedbank Cup last 32 teams over the weekend, Tornado returns to their ABC Motsepe League commitments when they take on newcomers Birmingham City at North End Stadium on Wednesday afternoon.

Tornado is still reeling from one of their worst performances according to coach Tshepo Motsoeneng, after an uninspiring 1-0 win against an SAB League outfit Mqanduli United who gave them a run for their money at Mthatha Stadium.

The Mdantsane outfit that was the Eastern Cape representatives at the ABC Motsepe League National playoffs that were held at the University of Limpopo in Turfloop were gifted an own goal by United that ensured them a spot in the lucrative tournament.

The third-tier league champions have seen a slow start to their league campaign as compared to last season. After the six games played so far, they have only won three and drawn three, to register 12 points. However, their defence has been hard to penetrate as they have only conceded one goal.

Meanwhile, the new boys on the block, City, have had a rocky take-off after gaining promotion to the Motsepe league this season. City has only won one game, drawn one and lost a whopping four matches. They remain on four points at the bottom of the log.

“We are a little bit worried about our position on the log, but we still have hope. We have got this game in hand that we are playing against Tornado, and the boys are geared up.

“We are looking at stealing maximum points, and we are going all out against Tornado because, should we win that game, it will take us to a much better position on the log,” said City chairperson Vusi Khumalo.

He said it was still early days in the third-tier league, and thus no need to worry about being at the basement of the standings.

“We have four points and the teams on top of us have five to six points, so we can still move up to a good place on the log.

“But I must say that we are happy with the progress we’ve made so far. We played four games without a win with our previous coach [Victor Gomeni].

“But things have improved ever since coach [Never] Tshabalala took charge.”

Khumalo said the challenges that were facing his team were slowly disappearing. “So far we have managed to win two games, home and away.

“We drew against The Guys, who are a strong side, especially at their backyard, but we managed to get a point there.

“So we expected Tornado to be on the offence, but then we can’t wait for them to dictate to us and we won’t sit back and defend because we have prepared for them, although we had a short space of time.

“But we know that we need these points more than Tornado needs them, and people might remember that our players when we started in this league months back, they had stage fright.

“They couldn’t combine two-three touches, but now it’s a different ball game. They are confident and they believe they deserve to play in this league.”

He said when they met Tornado for the first time in the Nedbank Cup playoffs this season they had a lot of respect for the champions, but that was in the past now.

“We went into that game not wanting to concede a lot of goals and we didn’t convert our chances, so they punished us for those mistakes.

“But we have learned a lot up until now,” said Khumalo.

Things have improved ever since coach Tshabalala took charge