UWC coach Aboobaker Williams has congratulated and praised his team for their 2-1 vital win over last year’s Varsity Football runners–up NMMU.
The victory in Port Elizabeth on Monday evening was the first in four games for the Bellville-based UWC side, and helped them to move to fifth position on the log, three points adrift of fourth-placed Kovsies with three games remaining.
Man of the Match Tapelo Sixishe converted a penalty to put his UWC team into the lead early in the first half, but the Madibaz equalised halfway through the second stanza to give them some hope of victory, despite having lost striker Cloudius Ray Sagandira, who was sent off just before halftime for bad conduct.
UWC’s Reza-Zain Dramat, who replaced injured Curtley Beukes as the main striker, scored late in the game to ensure that his team had the last laugh going home with maximum points.
A former Under-17 and Under-20 national coach, Williams noted that the win really helped put their campaign back on track, and that his side has worked on the shortcomings that saw them picking up only one point from their first three outings.
“The problems in the team are now outweighed by the positives,” Williams commented after the game.
Although UWC lost two games and drew one before last night’s victory, there had always been individual brilliance as two players (goalkeeper Reon October twice and Sixishe once) have now won three Man of the Match awards in their four games.
But Williams believes that the last few games have allowed his team to gel, and that they defended better and applied more pressure on the opposition team on the night than their previous games.
“We have played together for few games, and things are starting to show,” Williams said, adding that the team is in good spirits and fired up to beat the University of Limpopo when these two side clash at UWC Sports Stadium on Monday.
By Myolisi Gophe
