I love it when my back is against the wall - Sono

"We have to kick ass. That's all," Jomo Sono said in response to a question on what it would take for Jomo Cosmos to stay in the Absa Premiership next season.

Sitting comfortably on a table in the away team's dressing room at Dobsonville Stadium on Wednesday night, Sono looked like a man just itching to say, "I told you so". What he did say, though, was: "I told you not to write me off."

Ezenkosi had just won promotion, thanks to a 1-0 victory over Moroka Swallows in the final play-off match, and of course he was the man everyone wanted to talk to.

Calm after the wild celebrations on the pitch, Sono congratulated his boys and again pointed to how criticism drove Ezenkosi to promotion.

Cosmos finished top of the three-team mini league play-offs, level on points [seven] with Black Leopards but with a superior goal difference.

"I am happy guys. Congratulations to the players. They have created history for themselves and they have done well for their families. We missed it last season, but this season we managed to grind out results. At some point we lost four matches, but we kept going.

"I love it when my back is against the wall. I love being criticised. I am strong. And you can see it in my players. You can see Pitso [Mosimane]. He has a thick skin. Where is he coming from?"

Cosmos will bolster their squad for next season and some of their new players will come from countries that participated in the Cosafa Cup recently.

The tournament's top scorer with five goals, Sarivahy Vombolo of Madagascar, is a player that is said to have caught Sono's eye.

"We have been speaking to a few players because we knew we were going to be promoted. We will make announcements soon. There are players we have signed from Cosafa. There's two from Mozambique, one from Madagascar and another one from Namibia."

Sono plans to move from Vaal University of Technology, where Cosmos played their home matches during the past season, to Parys, Free State.