Coach sees positives from defeat

After losing the MTN8 final, Highlands Park head into another cup competition – this time the Telkom Knockout – and coach Owen da Gama (right) says his charges are raring to go.

The Lions of the North lost 1-0 to SuperSport United at Orlando Stadium ahead of the international break, but Da Gama doesn’t see the loss as a setback going into the TKO clash against Black Leopards at the Makhulong Stadium on Sunday.

He admits, however, that it won’t be easy coming up against a Leopards side whom they have been involved in a lot of draws in the past.

“A very tough encounter, but we’ve been working very hard in the past two weeks. We have tried to make them (the players) understand that it’s all about the mental strength and emotional intelligence. We take a lot of strength from that cup final, a lot of learning curves and we try to improve,” said the Highlands coach.

“We are coming up against Leopards. We were together in the National First Division and we got promoted together to the Premiership.

“I think the last time we played against them in the NFD we beat them 1-0 in Thohoyandou. After that it has been draws, draws and draws. I won’t forget one of the first games we played against them in the PSL last season. We were leading 2-0 and they ended up equalising in the last six seconds and it finished 2-2.”

“I think the mood is much better now,” added Da Gama on the time spent since the MTN8 final defeat.

“The players understand that you can’t win them all ... if you don’t win, you learn. It’s part of the culture at Highlands Park.”