Marques returns to haunt Birds
Leopards in pole position after beating Cosmos but Jomo remains optimistic
WHILE JOMO SONO was quick to declare the competition has just begun, Zeca Marques was nonchalantly looking ahead to coming up against his former team for the first time.
Sunday’s opening match of the Premier Soccer League Promotional Play-offs saw Sono’s Jomo Cosmos go down 2-0 at Black Leopards who visit Moroka Swallows tomorrow.
Yet, though put on the back-foot for the threeteam, home and away round-robin competition, Sono was hardly perturbed – the Ezenkosi el supreme pronouncing there is still a lot of football to be played.
“It’s not over yet,” Sono said after the match at Thohoyandou Stadium. “There’s still a long way to go. We must just make sure we beat them at home; give them a taste of their own medicine. We must just win all our home games to make sure we’re still in it. Don’t rule us out.”
Striker Brice Aka, who came on as a substitute, echoed his coach’s sentiments.
“We tried but time was not on our side. But it is not over yet. We still have three matches to go and we will give it our best shot. We will dig deep and hope that we get it right. We will give both Swallows and Leopards a tough game when they come to our home. We expect our supporters to come in their numbers.”
With the team that finishes with the most points after four matches each set to play in the elite league next season, Leopards gave themselves a good head-start with their consummate win courtesy of goals by Siphelele Ntshangase and Ivan Mahangwahaya.
Such was their performance in front of their vociferous home crowd who celebrated the win as though it had already guaranteed them promotion, the fans staying on at the stadium singing and dancing long after the final whistle had been blown.
But Marques is too experienced and knows that there is a long way to go still. Although happy with his team’s performance, the Leopards coach was not about to proclaim “Premiership here we come.”
“We got it spot on,” he said “This gives the team confidence going forward. We did well defensively; we had a very solid performance and we were well disciplined.”
He knows though that Leopards will have to replicate that performance at Dobsonville Stadium tomorrow night if they are to keep alive their hopes of a return to the Premiership.
“We’ll have the same kind of preparations we had. We won’t change anything,” he said as he looked ahead to squaring up with a Swallows side he coached this season before taking up his new position with Leopards.
“It will be a little emotional, but that’s how it works,” he said of the 7.30pm clash with the Birds who finished second from bottom in the elite league. Thereafter, Swallows will travel to the Vaal Technikon to face Cosmos on Sunday to complete the first round of matches.
At A Glance
RESULT
Leopards
Sunday:
2
Cosmos
FIXTURES Tomorrow:
Sunday, May 31:
0
Swallows v Leopards, Dobsonville Stadium, 7.30pm
Cosmos v Swallows, Vaal Tech Stadium, 3pm
Wednesday, May 27:
Cosmos v Leopards, Vaal Tech Stadium, 3pm Leopards v Swallows, Thohoyandou Stadium, 3pm
Wednesday, June 3:
Swallows v Cosmos, Dobsonville Stadium, 7.30pm