Maritzburg United coach Ernst Middendorp has insinuated they are lucky to have accumulated 10 points from eight games this season, accepting that they have hardly played well so far.
Maritzburg notched up their third league win of the DStv Premiership campaign by beating struggling TS Galaxy 1-0 at Mbombela Stadium at the weekend, courtesy of an own goal by Bathusi Aubaas.
“It’s 10 points… at the moment out of eight games. That’s definitely something we can be very happy about but as I said it already, straightaway after the game [against Galaxy], if I watch all the games, the performance probably we have 10 points too many. It’s a very honest opinion,” Middendorp said after the Galaxy encounter.
“I think we should say this because... let’s stay humble and not start whining about challenging for a certain position on the log. I am very realistic about how we’re performing at the moment. We can do better. I see better performances from players during training sessions but in the games we somehow don’t do the same.”
Middendorp trusts the return of injured experienced troops like skipper Phumlani Ntshangase and Clayton Daniels will stabilise the Team of Choice as he aims for better performances in the coming games.
“Players are coming back from injuries... Phumlani, Clayton, Keagan Ritchie and Fares Hachi. Those are all experienced players... players with certain substance. We’ll put them in place to make the performance better,’’ noted the Maritzburg coach.
“Mazinyo”, as Middendorp is known in football circles, admitted the three points they managed at Galaxy required them to dig deep.
“This win is definitely a result of hard work. Galaxy started well and they were certainly dominant during the entire first half,” said Middendorp.
“At the beginning of the second half we worked as a unit a bit better. That worked immediately. There were two or three moments where I would say we didn’t co-operate better in terms of decision making.”
Middendorp accepts Maritzburg have ridden their luck
Mazinyo puts hope on returning players
Maritzburg United coach Ernst Middendorp has insinuated they are lucky to have accumulated 10 points from eight games this season, accepting that they have hardly played well so far.
Maritzburg notched up their third league win of the DStv Premiership campaign by beating struggling TS Galaxy 1-0 at Mbombela Stadium at the weekend, courtesy of an own goal by Bathusi Aubaas.
“It’s 10 points… at the moment out of eight games. That’s definitely something we can be very happy about but as I said it already, straightaway after the game [against Galaxy], if I watch all the games, the performance probably we have 10 points too many. It’s a very honest opinion,” Middendorp said after the Galaxy encounter.
“I think we should say this because... let’s stay humble and not start whining about challenging for a certain position on the log. I am very realistic about how we’re performing at the moment. We can do better. I see better performances from players during training sessions but in the games we somehow don’t do the same.”
Middendorp trusts the return of injured experienced troops like skipper Phumlani Ntshangase and Clayton Daniels will stabilise the Team of Choice as he aims for better performances in the coming games.
“Players are coming back from injuries... Phumlani, Clayton, Keagan Ritchie and Fares Hachi. Those are all experienced players... players with certain substance. We’ll put them in place to make the performance better,’’ noted the Maritzburg coach.
“Mazinyo”, as Middendorp is known in football circles, admitted the three points they managed at Galaxy required them to dig deep.
“This win is definitely a result of hard work. Galaxy started well and they were certainly dominant during the entire first half,” said Middendorp.
“At the beginning of the second half we worked as a unit a bit better. That worked immediately. There were two or three moments where I would say we didn’t co-operate better in terms of decision making.”