UCT’s Ikey Warriors are still looking for their first win of the tournament and find themselves tied with UWC and Limpopo at the bottom of the Varsity Football standings.
The Cape Town side looked like they were up to the task when they took on NMMU in their third-round fixture on Monday; however, the Madibaz took advantage of their inability to finish, beating them 2-1.
Warrior’s coach Rowan Hendricks expressed his disappointment in the result, and particularly in the first half display from his team.
“We looked very disjointed in the first half; individual arrogance and egos are costing this team,” he said.
Looking past the negatives, however, and emphasizing his role in the side, he said that they are capable of lifting their game.
“it should be said that we can be much better – I can see that when I look into their eyes after every match. It’s my job as a coach to help my players and save them,” he said.
Although this was the team’s first game away from home, the coach will not attribute the loss to this factor.
“The team doesn’t fear playing away from home; they are together – they fight. And I would love to see that what gets spoken about materialising on the field,” he said.
He believes that NMMU posed no serious threat to the team, with the exception of Madibaz winger Sachen Jackson who scored the first goal of the match.
“That was again our own fault for allowing a player to almost run into our box and shoot. We need to play to win,” he said.
Speaking about which players he believes had particularly stand-out performances, despite the loss, Hendricks said: “David our goalkeeper was commanding well from the back, Thamsanqa Malusi had a better match and Louis-Roman, our striker, played his heart out just like I know him to.”
By Megan Kinnaird
