Chippa need to get over defeat, work to save club's status — Konqobe
Chippa United’s Ayabulela Konqobe says there is no time for players to sulk at this crucial time with the club’s Dstv Premiership status on the line.
The Eastern Cape side’s dream of Nedbank Cup glory was shattered on Saturday when the team slipped to a 1-0 defeat at the hands of TTM in the final played at the Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein.
With the real threat of relegation still hanging over their heads, the Chilli Boys will have to put their cup final nightmare behind them, dust themselves off and put all their emphasis on saving the club’s status in their last four matches.
Chippa will now hope to get one over struggling Black Leopards when the sides meet in a relegation battle fixture at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Wednesday (3pm).
Konqobe believes the Chilli Boys, despite being wounded, still have some fighting spirit left to save the club’s status.
“We will fight; we know we want to be in the PSL come next season,” the 25-year-old midfielder said.
“So we will go out there and fight. This won’t be an easy game. We are not saying we are going to win every game, but we will be fighting in each and every match.
“We are fighting for the people of the Eastern Cape and we are fighting for our supporters.
“This struggle is tough on all of us as people of Gqeberha and East London, so we are all pushing together.
“To be honest the main objective was always to secure the team’s [PSL] status, the Nedbank Cup final was just a blessing.
“So we got that blessing, tried our best, but we were unlucky that we did not succeed but I think we made the people of the Eastern Cape proud.
“Now we just need to secure the status of the club and focus on what we can do together as a team,” Konqobe said.
“Yes, a lot of us [players] are heartbroken and disappointed but at the end of the day we are all footballers and warriors.
“We know what our priority is, so I think after Monday’s session we will know what our focus is.
“I think everybody knows that the Nedbank Cup is already gone, the chairman [Siviwe Mpengesi] also came into the changing room after the game and told us he was really proud of us.
“What more could we have done? We tried, we fought but it was just not our day. The guys are very strong and what is left is to go out there and get more confidence to go forward.”
Wednesday’s match would not be a walk in the park but he said they would approach the match like a cup final.
“It’s like the coach always says: every game is a cup final. We played the Nedbank final on Saturday, but yet we have another final on Wednesday.
“Even the way we prepare, we are preparing like every game is a final,” he said.