ALTHOUGH they do not want to put pressure on the players for the Motsepe Foundation Championship title next season, the chairman and coach of Midlands Wanderers, Vincent “Masenti” Myeni, said that they will not be complacent about the title if the opportunity presents itself due to the interest shown by the players.
Midlands, who survived last season in the Motsepe Championship, finished in 14th place on the log in their first season in this division, with pressure to do better in the future due to the success of Milford FC who were promoted to the Betway Premiership.
This team will be the only one in KwaZulu-Natal in the Championship.
In a bid to strengthen their squad, Wanderers have signed four players, Ndumiso Ngiba, Sonwabo Khumalo, Sanele “Figo” Radebe and Jabulani “Ngunyane” Mokone.
Ngiba and Khumalo were on the books of Orlando Pirates. Khumalo has signed for Wanderers on loan last season. Ngiba was loaned by Pirates to Orbit College last season.
Mokone from Pirates, has been loaned to Wanderers until the end of the season. Radebe signed fully from Lamontville Golden Arrows.
“Although we are strengthening other areas in our squad with a few experienced players, we will not make many changes to the team we had last season because we are still standing by our goal of believing in young players and there are other players from our nursery that we are promoting to the big team,” said Myeni.
“We are still holding on to our three-season goal. In the first season, the goal was to avoid relegation, which we managed to achieve.
“So in this second season we are going, the aim is to settle down and strengthen our place in the Championship category. In the third season, we will fight for the league title. But our players, when we talk to them, express their interest in fighting for the league title in the season we are going toTherefore, we will not be complacent when the opportunity arises, although we will not put pressure on our players.”
The Bebatha boys are competing against six teams from KwaZulu-Natal, who will play in the KZN Premier’s Cup at the weekend. Saturday will be played at Sugar Ray Xulu Stadium, Clermont, and Sunday will be moved to Princess Magogo Stadium, KwaMashu.
They will play against MaZulu FC in the third match on Saturday at 4 pm.