Durban City’s COACH, Pitso Dladla, laments the lack of games they played after the Nedbank Cup win, a situation he considered almost lost them the opportunity to secure a place in the Top 8.
Although City were beaten 1-0 by MaZulu FC in the last match of the Betway Premiership season on Saturday at Chatsworth Stadium, Durban, they managed to get a place in the MTN8 by finishing eighth on the log with 39 points.
Losing points to Stellenbosch FC and Siwelele, which are the teams that City had the eighth place in the log, opened the door to finish in the Top 8.
City have joined the hosts AmaZulu and Lamontville Golden Arrows, among the KwaZulu-Natal teams they will host in MTN8 next season.
“As a team that was in its first season in the Premiership this season, I don’t think anyone thought that we could finish in the Top 8, let alone win the Nedbank Cup.
So this season was a success for us, although I believe that as a team we could have done better than this in the league, we got more points than the ones we got this season.
The support we received from our fans especially at our home ground, Chatsworth Stadium, went a long way in motivating us in our home games. That’s why we would have liked to say goodbye to them with a win in our last game, but in the end it was not possible,” said Dladla.
After the Nedbank Cup final on May 2, the Citizens played two games in close succession in two days. They drew 2-2 with Siwelele FC on May 5, followed by a 0-0 draw with Stellenbosch FC on May 8, before a 0-0 draw with Orlando Pirates on May 16.
“The lack of games we played before and after the final of the Nedbank Cup contributed to our losing points.
I believe we could have done better to have enough time, especially after our Nedbank final.
We played two matches in a row in a very short period of time, playing against Siwelele and Stellenbosch separately, which almost cost us the opportunity to enter the Top 8.
However, I don’t want it to seem like I’m making excuses because it was a plan to organize the games this season to coincide with the coming of the World Cup. The Nedbank final is usually played after the league matches are over,” said Dladla.