Ferreira took distractions in his stride

A 3-0 win in their first game of the GladAfrica Championship has given Uthongathi FC coach Johnny Ferreira some hope his team can mount a serious challenge for promotion in their third campaign in the division.

The Cane Cutters’ start to the campaign was delayed when their first two games were cancelled owing to ownership issues around the club but got off to a dream start with a 3-0 drubbing of Ajax Cape Town in their own backyard on Sunday afternoon.

“We mustn’t get ahead of ourselves, but if we beat an Ajax team who finished one place ahead of us last season and are such a big and well-resourced team, that’s a very positive signal. If we use those signals as a yardstick, then I am certain we will be around the play-offs places by the end of the season,” he said.

Ferreira was happy with his players’ mentality.

“We were getting ready to play our first game against Real Kings and just a day to it, it was cancelled. This disturbed many of the players emotionally because we had prepared for two months, then suddenly it was cancelled and we didn’t know the reasons for that cancellation.

“We have an idea now but it is too late. But we had to sit still until the issues, which we didn’t understand at the time, were resolved,” Ferreira told Phakaathi yesterday.

The time they had in the two weeks they didn’t play must have worked to their advantage because Ferreira and his technical team managed to come up with a winning strategy for the Urban Warriors match. Pule Mmodi scored twice and Tshepo Liphoko scored the other in what Ferreira described as a perfect start.

“We decided on a strategy to use three No 10s to be more efficient in attack so we could score more goals because we understand it was our biggest letdown last season. We wanted to press them high. We weren’t sure how they were going to approach the game. We didn’t know if they would build from the back or opt for long balls, so we prepared for both.

“We pressed them high and it worked because they couldn’t start from the back. They then tried to use Eleazar Rodgers, but he was marked by our two central defenders at all times. So that didn’t work for them either.

“As a result we dominated play and I think we controlled about 80% of the ball. I think they just had two chances to score with headers but we could have also scored more,” said the 62-yearold.