Madibaz go on attack for win

THE NMMU Madibaz proved their Varsity Cup football campaign was far from over when they overcame the University of Cape Town to take a 2-1 maiden win on Monday night.

Madibaz head coach Graeme Harrison was delighted with his players’ performance in front of a home crowd of close to 2 000.

“The boys fought hard, they stuck to the task at hand and stood up to the challenge. I’m very proud of them.

“We knew it would just be a matter of time before it happened,” Harrison said.

“They showed how deter- mined they were to get the result and reverse the loss against UJ last week.”

He said his team had opted for a radically different approach for the game. “We decided we needed to be more attack-minded, to go forward and create as many scoring opportunities as possible, and to convert those into goals.”

While the strategy had left them slightly vulnerable in defence, Harrison said it had paid off in the end. “That was a risk we were prepared to take.”

He said the Madibaz dominated in the first half to take a one-goal advantage into half time. “. . . we got our second goal in the 80th minute, which we thought had knocked the wind out of their [UCT’s] sails.”

However, their rivals scored in the optional extra time.

He said playing for 90 minutes and more was an area his relatively inexperienced side would continue to work on.

The Madibaz will face the University of the Western Cape at the Madibaz Stadium in Port Elizabeth on Monday (6pm).

Tickets are available free at www.varsitysportssa.com or at a cost of R20 at the gate.