Chilli Boys want to be counted among best
Malesela keen to tighten defence
Having reached two cup semifinals last season, Chippa United coach Dan Malesela is desperate to go one step further and win a trophy in the upcoming season.
The Chilli Boys reached the last four of the MTN8 and the Nedbank Cup in 2016-17 but had to settle for a disappointing 13th place finish in the premier league.
Malesela is hoping that a new season brings about change and that he can turn his team’s fortunes around and claim some silverware.
“It’s an aspiration for every club to at least win something, but you don’t want to get ahead of yourself and start saying you are going to win this and win that.
“We will try to the best of our ability to see that at least Port Elizabeth has something to celebrate,” he said.
“You can imagine how it would be if we can have just one day where the streets of PE will be filled in celebrating silverware.
But we cannot jump the gun and say we are going to do this and that ... we will definitely try and get something this season.”
In order to get the job done the former Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates defender said his defence needed to be beefed up. He said he hoped that the new recruits who had been brought into the team would be able to do just that.
“With the few changes we have made to the squad, we are also trying to find leadership in the players that come in.
“We are trying to erase all the negatives that happened last season.
“We will try to beef up our defence. There are a number of players that we are bringing in.
“We have strikers – we were struggling with injuries, that was the problem. We still have Katlego Mashego, Rhulani Manzini and Lerato Manzini. We’ve also added one more striker that will be announced later,” he said.
Meanwhile, keeper Brighton Mhlongo has joined the Chilli Boys form Orlando Pirates on a three-year deal, it was confirmed yesterday.
The Chilli Boys are currently in KwaZulu-Natal on a training camp and will return to Port Elizabeth at the end of the month.