Wits, City in frame for PSL awards
As one might have expected, Bidvest Wits and Cape Town City players dominated yesterday as the Premier Soccer League announced the nominees for its annual awards, to be held at Sandton Convention Centre on July 10.
City’s Lebogang Manyama and Wits’ Thulani Hlatshwayo are both up for the most prestigious award, the PSL Footballer-of-the-Season. Mamelodi Sundowns captain Hlompho Kekana is the other nominee, but has to be an outsider for the gong.
Hlatshwayo captained Bidvest Wits and marshalled their defence superbly as they won the MTN8 and Absa Premiership, while Manyama was captain and top goalscorer for City as they had an amazing first season, winning the Telkom Knockout and finishing third in the league.
Manyama will automatically win the Absa Premiership top scorer award, having netted 13 times in the league for City this season, and has also been nominated for the Absa Premiership Players’ Player-of-the-Season and the Telkom Knockout Player-of-the-Season award.
Hlatshwayo has also been nominated for the MTN8 LastMan-Standing award and the Absa Premiership Defender-of-the-Season award, though he has missed out on the Players’ Player-of-the-Season award, with City’s Aubrey Ngoma and Sundowns’ Percy Tau nominated there alongside Manyama.
Ngoma, who had a superb season in tandem with Manyama, has also been nominated for the Telkom Knockout Player-ofthe-Season award and the Absa Premiership Midfielder-of-theSeason Award.
Former City coach Eric Tinkler might have crossed the floor to SuperSport United, but his work at City has seen him nominated for Coach-of-the-Season, along with Wits’ Gavin Hunt and Sundowns’ Pitso Mosimane.
Wits’ talented youngster Phakamani Mahlambi is among those nominated for the Absa Premiership Young Player-ofthe-Season award.
SuperSport youngster Teboho Mokoena has also been nominated for that award and the Nedbank Cup Young Player-ofthe-Tournament. SuperSport can consider themselves a little unfortunate, meanwhile, that Pirates have two nominees for the Nedbank Cup Player-of-theTournament, while they only have one.