VUT’s 2-1 loss to Wits at the ‘Slaughterhouse’ on Monday came as a shocker, seeing dissapointed fans pour out of the stadium as the visiting team scored in the 90th minute.
Malesela Chokoe, the captain of the home side was crestfallen after the match and admitted that his side had underestimated Wits.
“The game was tough, we had thought that it would be easy, but it was not. Wits are a very good team, to whom we conceded two goals, the game is over now and there is nothing we can do about it. We will just have to see what happens in the next game,” he said.
The boys walked off the pitch very dispirited to have lost the game at such a crucial stage in the tournament.
“We are very disappointed. We had aimed for a win, but football is very a unpredictable sport and that’s how it is…you win some, you lose some,” Chokoe added.
They hope now that the other teams will make mistakes on which they can maximise to sneak into the top four and are already thinking of strategy to overtake defending champions UP-Tuks next week.
“Next game we are playing Tuks and I think they mostly play route one football, we will just have to make sure that we go in with a gameplan, up our attack strategy and anticipate to win the game,” Chokoe said
Coach Geelbooi ‘Gomma’ Masango commended his boys for playing to the best of their abilities even though it was not enough to win the game.
“My boys tried their best and went all heart in, however they should learn from this game, it’s never easy, you have to fight till the last second,” he said.
Masango said that the loss was not what they expected but he was glad with the good moments his team had. As newcomers to Varsity Football, the coach felt not much was lost and congratulated Wits on a game well played.
“They did well, one could see that they analysed the game, they had a plan. They neutralised us on the left and right hand side of the pitch. It was a good plan, they punished us on side pieces. Well done to them,” the coach said.
“It’s good when one loses to such a good team, but we were not in the picture, we struggled to focus and there was quite a bit of tension,” he added.
After last week’s game, the Vaal boys had set their sights on harming Wits, but in football the end tends to be unforeseeable. Looking ahead to their last match-up against UP-Tuks next week the ‘Gomma’ ended on a more positive note.
“We are playing Tuks next week, we do not know what the result will be. If we beat them and move to ten points, we could perhaps see the semi’s. If TUT loses their game, we will probably get in.
“Our goal difference is not bad. It’s not the end of the world, we are still in it to win it. The battle is not over,” he said.
UP-Tuks hosts VUT on Monday at their sport stadium in Pretoria with kick off at 18:00
by Debbie Semano
