Upington’s progress impresses Nkosi

Upington City coach Thulani Nkosi is satisfied with his side's progress in the Motsepe Foundation Championship, although they surprised him a bit.

Upington are enjoying an impressive run, with four wins from six matches and re second on the log with 13 points, one behind leaders Milford.

Nkosi said he expected it to happen to have a good run, but not so early. “I expected it to happen but not as soon as it has because I was still expecting that we needed [to] gel first,” Nkosi told Sowetan.

“Find ourselves in understanding how we want the players to play. But surprisingly, they really adapted quickly and in adaptation, you still want to have positive results on your side, something we really appreciate now.

“Although we didn’t have a good start, remember in our first game [after losing 0-1 to JDR Stars], but with a lot of positives, we had in that game we dominated all departments and had a lot of shots on target which we didn’t convert. I’m quite happy though I didn’t expect it to happen quickly.”

After finishing sixth last term, Nkosi said they took a different approach this time.

“If you remember last campaign, we struggled a little bit to find the form because we were still trying to understand how things are done.

“But this term, we used a different approach from the few experienced players that we beefed up the team with and with the core of the team from last season.

“The only thing I'm praying for is that we stay consistent.”

Upington will visit struggling Cape Town Spurs at Athlone Stadium on Sunday at 3.30pm eager to maintain their good run.

NFD Fixtures

Today: Durban v Baroka, Chatsworth (7.30pm).

Tomorrow: Lions v Callies, Suzuki (3.30pm); JDR v Leopards, Soshanguve Giant (3.30pm); Venda v Kruger, Thohoyandou (3.30pm); Orbit v Milford, Olympia Park (3.30pm).

Sunday: Leruma v Casric, Lucas Moripe (3.30pm); University of PTA v Highbury, Tuks (3.30pm); Spurs v Upington, Athlone (3.30pm)