City happy to win, but defence is a worry
ALTHOUGH they banged in five goals, the Cape Town City players were not happy with the fact that they again leaked soft goals in the 5-3 Absa Premiership victory over Polokwane City at Cape Town Stadium on Wednesday night.
The Citizens’ second win of the campaign from nine outings propelled them up two places to 11th on the standings on 11 points.
While the victory was never in doubt, City again leaked soft goals (the 18 they have conceeded is the most by any team) after taking a commanding 5-1 lead.
The players weren’t happy about that and vowed to correct silly mistakes that have put them in their current predicament.
Had the defence stood firm, City would have won a lot more games and been hot on the heels of pace setters Kaizer Chiefs.
The inability to close out winning hands played a part in the firing of Benni McCarthy on Sunday.
The former coach, however, has to shoulder some of the blame for not owning up to his own mistakes.
But this chapter in the club’s history is now a thing of the past. In new Dutch head coach Jan Olde Riekerink they have a master tactician chomping at the bit to change the club’s fortunes.
He loves talent, sees a lot of it, wants to unleash it.
He said: “First of all, I’m happy to be back in Cape Town for a second time. I know club chairman John
Comitis from our Ajax Amsterdam/ Ajax Cape Town connection.
“We spoke about getting back together to work on a new project and here we are again seeking to get the club back on track. What I want to see is talent.
“If a team has talent, then it’s about how you use it so you can grow as a team. The players make a good team and then one has to find the individuals who can make a difference.”
One of a number of players to catch his eye was Kermit Erasmus.
The Bafana Bafana striker scored a brace with consummate ease to increase his tally to seven and join Bongi Ntuli of AmaZulu FC and Peter Shalulile of Highlands Park as the leading scorers in the division.
“Kermit is a dangerous player,” said Riekerink. “But for him to be at his most lethal depends on the way he receives the ball.
“If he gets it in-between and behind the defence he’s going to be unstoppable. From what I saw in the first half he was played into goal-scoring positions and finished off well.”
City will be back in action on Sunday away to Black Leopards, while the Cape’s second PSL team, Stellenbosch FC, welcome Highlands Park to the Cape Town Stadium tomorrow.
Stellies saw their four-game unbeaten run ended on the road when going down 2-0 to fastimproving AmaZulu, who registered their third straight victory thanks to goals from Ntuli in either half.