Chippa showed character against Richards Bay, says Mammila
Chippa United head coach Morgan Mammila has commended his team’s neversay-die attitude against high-flying Richards Bay United on Sunday.
The Gqeberha side showed fighting spirit when they came back from 2-0 down to draw 3-3 against Richards Bay in a six-goal Dstv Premiership thriller at Milpark Stadium.
Second-half goals from Ronaldo Maarman, Ronald Pfumbidzai and Etiosa Ighodaro saw Chilli Boys take home a point on Sunday.
The draw came as a positive result for the club after their first defeat under Mammila, when the Chilli Boys lost 2-1 to Cape Town City before Sunday’s encounter.
Chippa remain sixth on the PSL log, with 18 points from 13 matches.
Mammila welcomed Sunday’s result and said his players showed character.
“We started very slowly against Richards Bay,” Mammila said.
“Our intention was very clear to manage the tempo of the game and drive [ball] possession so that it could build confidence in our team, which we did for almost 30 minutes because Richards Bay were sitting back trying to get us on the counter.
“We gave away two easy goals to them, they did not work for those goals.
“We went into half-time with them leading 2-0, but we came back very strong in the second half.
“We were clear that we will start slow and finish strong and I am happy with my boys because they fought like a team.
“Coming back from 2-0 down to 2-1 then 3-1 then 3-2 and 3-3, only players with character can do that.”
The Chilli Boys have enjoyed a positive spell of results with Mammila at the helm.
He previously served at the club as the manager and technical director before taking over the reins from axed coach Daine Klate.
Under his guidance, Chippa have four straight wins, one defeat and a draw from the six matches where he has been in charge.
The coach said his players would now enjoy a three-week Fifa break.
“I think my boys will come back fully recharged when the league resumes again.
“We will come back stronger and try to improve on certain elements of the game, because we knew we are still crawling, the technical team, but the players are ready.
“So we need to catch up with the speed of the players because they are out there but we are coming strongly also behind them.”*