Last week saw the University of the Witwatersrand get back to winning ways, when they picked up their first points, after beating Bloemfontein outfit Central University of Technology 2-0 in their first home game of the season at the Bidvest Stadium.
Wits were quite excited about the first win against a side that are ranked as one of the favourites to win this season’s Varsity Football tournament. CUT were also unbeaten ahead of the fixture but the Witsies know they can’t get ahead of themselves yet, as they still feel they have a mountain to climb if they want to get to the pinnacle of the tournament.
Ahead of the big Johannesburg derby against noisy neighbours UJ, Wits will appreciate the fact that their first win came at the right time, which will bring a boatload of confidence, which will be required with UJ coming into the fixture wounded after they suffered a 2-0 defeat at the hands of TUT at the Bunting Road campus. Wits will, however, be without two of their veteran players in captain Kaizer Maphanga and Mahle Mtabane, who will be away with the USSA national team. Even though Mtabane received his marching orders after receiving two yellow cards for bad challenges, Wits will definitely miss their captain and defender, who holds a lot of experience from a playing perspective and as the team’s leader.
Coach Mark Haskins, after the victory against CUT, felt the win was a good one, especially considering that the victory came after two tough weeks on the road, and his charges managed to secure a victory in front of their home fans.
On the question of whether an early goal was part of the plan in the game for Wits; Coach Haskins had this to say.
“In any game you want to score an early goal, but I wouldn’t say it was part of the plan, because the opposition also didn’t plan to concede so early. We got a set piece and we managed to put it away. The boys showed a lot of grit and character, which is why I’m so proud of them.”
The Wits defence looked really resolute in the game in comparison to the first two weeks of the tournament, where they conceded 10 goals. This time around, however, the boys in yellow managed to secure a clean sheet.
“Our approach to the game changed slightly. What we realised is that in previous games, we conceded very early and very late in the game. So we made sure we worked on that and kept things tight at the back,” Haskins added.
With the team losing two of its aces, coach Mark Haskins still believes that the replacements that will come in, will be more than capable of keeping things together for the Witsies as he feels they’ve got the depth in their squad to keep competing.
The team’s aim is to secure a semi-final spot and they feel it is still possible with three home games still remaining and one away game. Fate is still in the Wits team’s hands, if they can manage to not drop too many points in the upcoming fixtures, especially in the mouthwatering clash that awaits them on Thursday evening against UJ.
Mark Haskins ended things off by asking the Wits community to come down to the Bidvest Stadium and get behind the boys on Thursday evening, as he believes it will be needed in a tough encounter against UJ.
Catch this humdinger of a Varsity Football clash on Thursday evening at 6.15pm at the Bidvest Stadium in Johannesburg or alternatively live on SuperSport, to see who will walk away with all the points and the bragging rights in the City of Gold.
By Sifiso Nyawo
