One home game, one win reads UWC’s record in the Varsity Football 2019 season and with bottom-of-the-log UKZN their visitors on Thursday another three points look the mood should be confident in the Cape.
Of course, history – long past and recent – always plays a role in preparation and mindset. In UWC’s case that was thrilling 3-3 draw against UKZN in 2018 and an equally nail-biting 2-2 against UJ a week ago.
UWC coach Stanton Smith, however, has been focussing on the improvements his team has been making as the 2019 rounds go by.
“As we stand, our time is on the upward in terms of performance,” Smith tells varsityssportsa.com.
“If I look at the first two games, we conceded goals through mistakes but we rectified that in our game against CUT.”
Last week in Soweto, UWC played well enough to claim all three points especially after taking the lead twice. The significant factor, though, was losing first choice goalkeeper Ryan Ramandh early in the second half for what the referee deemed a second bookable offence.
“Look, against UJ we were well in control until the incident where our keeper was sent off, we were comfortably on our way to a victory but playing with a one man down we conceded two goals and the game ended in a draw,” Smith says.
The first-year head coach doesn’t fully subscribe to reports that the second booking, for time-wasting, was overly harsh; choosing, rather, to remind his goalkeeper of his responsibilities.
“As a coach, I do feel that my keeper let us down in that game. We introduced a new keeper in the game [Nhlanhla Mtambo], it was his first Varsity Football game, and I guess the occasion was too much for him because he let us down,” adds Smith.
Ramandh’s suspension and Mtambo’s jitters opens the door for Aidan Leak to make his first appearance of the season at ‘The Operation Room’ on Thursday.
Leak (19) is currently balancing his time between his second year of a BSc Dietetics degree at UWC and trying to force his way through at Ajax Cape Town, just like former UWC ‘keeper Renaldo Leaner has done with the GladAfrica Championship side.
“The incoming ‘keeper [Leak] has always been our back-up but has been out for the past three weeks due to a concussion injury he suffered, but now he has been cleared fully to play,” Smith explains for why Leak will start over Mtambo.
“He has all the qualities and all the experience and possesses the attributes for big matches. He has also been training with the Ajax GladAfrica Championship side so we happy in that department.”
Talking about the GladAfrica Championship (the new name for the National First Division in South Africa), UWC have already delivered one success to it after Xhantilomzi Mesana was signed by Jomo Cosmos.
Smith was happy praise his now departed defender: “Like I always say Varsity Football is a stepping stone where one can make something out of his footballing career or academics. I just want to wish Xhanti all the best on his new venture at Cosmos.
This UWC vs UKZN clash is the early Round 5 kick-off, at 16:00, and will be broadcast live on SuperSport 4. Tickets for UWC Stadium are available on the Varsity Sports App (available on iOS and Android stores) as well as here: https://varsitysportsa.plankton.mobi/
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