Benni on Cape Town City winning titles

BENNI MCCARTHY says Cape Town City, put together by businessman John Comitis last season, are still too new to compete for titles.

The team from the Mother City missed out on a chance to cut the lead at the top of the PSL standings to a single point on Saturday night when they lost to Free State Stars, the team that actually took advantage of Mamelodi Sundowns coming unstuck against Orlando Pirates. The Bethlehem outfit beat City 1-0 at Goble Park to move up to second on the league table, with City dropping down to third.

“I am not one to look at what’s going on elsewhere because I look at what my team has to do,” said City coach McCarthy. “We are not as big as people think. “We went through a good run, we are a modest team and my goal was to win the league, but that’s my personal goal.

“As a team we should just try and play as a unit and do better than last season (third place finish), get everyone on a higher level and push players into the national team. “And so far we have done that. “I don’t feel hard done by that we can’t keep up with Sundowns.”

City have been going through a rough patch recently – if it’s not their unpredictable form it’s players leaving as in the case of winger Aubrey Ngoma, who joined Sundowns this month, while captain Lebogang Manyama moved to Turkey just weeks into the new season.

His successor for the armband, in defender Robyn Johannes, has signed a pre-contract with Wits and will no longer be a City player at the end of the season.

“I knew from the day I walked in that Aubrey would be leaving soon,” McCarthy said. “We couldn’t stop the inevitable.

“It has been a bit of a readjustment for us, but I think we have done okay with what we have. We have Surprise Ralani now, but he needs to get used to the conditions and the environment of the PSL.

“Those are the things we need to get right. We also have Teko (Modise), but at his age you can’t expect him to travel all that much.

“You have to manage him properly and I have a good relationship with most of the senior players and I manage him in a proper way.

“He is such an important player and I want him to be available for the duration of the season.”