Eight points from a possible 15 is considered a good return in football and Chippa United coach Daniel ‘Dance’ Malesela seems to agree.
Ever the perfectionist that he is, Malesela wants the Chilli Boys to be ruthless in front of goals and achieve more than the 3-0 win they registered against Black Leopards at the Thohoyandou Stadium on Saturday.
Andile Mbenyane, Maloisane Mokhele and Kurt Lentjies’ goals brought joy to Chilli Boys supporters.
“We started off a bit jittery, a slow start, but it didn’t take us too long to get our footing. From then on we started playing well and minimised the risks of losing the ball,” Malesela said.
“The first goal was good, individual brilliance from Andile Mbenyane. We also had a bit of scary moments here and there, which is normal in football.”
Lidoda Duvha were reduced to 10 men in the second half after Edwin Gyimah was sent off for a second bookable offence.
“They had a lot of fouls. That helped building up to them getting a red card. I knew their centre back Gyimah as soon as he got the first yellow card that he was going to get another yellow card,” said Malesela.
“My biggest concern is the many, many chances we missed. But if you score three from the many you missed, it’s good.”
The Chilli Boys have accumulated seven points from a possible nine in their last three matches something which Malesela attributes to discipline. They scored five goals and conceded one in the last three games. They drew 1-1 with Swallows FC. They won 1-0 over TS Galaxy and beat Leopards 3-0.
“At the moment, somehow I feel playing these games away has helped in terms of keeping discipline and team spirit. I just want us to be very careful as we go along and not get carried away. The players seem level headed, focusing on the next game,” the former TS Galaxy coach said.
The Chilli Boys are going to play against Bloemfontein Celtic at the Dr Petrus Molemela Stadium in Mangaung on Wednesday (17h00).
“Obviously, you must have a plan when you go to a match. I don’t think we will have much changes, maybe one change and continue with what we have. I just hope that the guys with smallernyana injuries will be available for us,” Malesela said.
