Sono’s eyes on the main prize

Good run in the Cup won’t distract Cosmos owner

Jomo Cosmos coach Jomo Sono will only start believing they can win the Nedbank Cup if they get to the semifinals.

But that does not mean he’ll take his eye off the main prize – which is to win promotion to the Absa Premiership.

According to Sono, the cup competition will not be a distraction after they progressed to the quarterfinals via a 5-4 penalty shoot-out victory over Bidvest Wits at Tsakane Stadium on Tuesday.

“I think it’s good for the team. It gives the players confidence that they can beat any team.

“If God helps me to reach the semifinal, then I’ll tell you that we can get to the final,” said Sono, who has nine matches left in the National First Division (NFD) to qualify for one of the two promotion play-off spots.

Cosmos are in eighth place in the NFD and their next game is against Royal Eagles.

“We have 30 points from 21 games, so anything is possible. If we can go to second position, we can fight with [leaders] Thanda [Royal Zulu].”

Sono knew that his boys were fitter than Wits, so he was confident they would progress to the next round when the game went into extra time.

“We planned well for Wits. We went to watch them twice and we knew that if we take them to extra time we might have a chance because NFD teams are fitter than the professional teams,” he said.