Chippa United head coach Vusumuzi Vilakazi celebrated the hard-fought away victory over Orbit College at the weekend and praised his players for their relentless fighting spirit.
Chippa’s Justice Figuareido, on loan from Orlando Pirates, netted the decisive goal that secured Chippa’s second win of the season after a long nine-match wait.
The three points against Orbit lifted the Chilli Boys to 15th place on the log.
This was also coach Vilakazi’s first win with the team since taking over the reins from Belgian coach Luc Eymael three months ago.
The former AmaZulu mentor will hope that Saturday’s victory will unlock more wins for the Gqeberha.
“Our preparations went well because we aimed to turn the corner with a win,” Vilakazi said.
“However, we knew it was not going to be an easy one because we were playing away and against Orbit, a team that had not won in the past four games, so we knew it was going to be a difficult game for us.
“The fighting spirit was there among the players, and they understand the position we are in right now, which demands that we get points if we want to fight and survive relegation.
“I was happy with the positivity from the players and the understanding of how important it was to win the game on Saturday.”
The coach said their camp in Johannesburg during the off-season was their biggest contributor in Saturday’s win against Orbit.
“Our two-week mini-camp in Joburg greatly benefited our preparations for Saturday’s game.
“We played friendly games against very competitive teams, and I think it helped us playing against Chiefs, Pirates, Venda, and Leruma.
“Those games helped us a lot, so I think we were bound to be victorious on Saturday.”
Chippa’s next match is against Durban City on Saturday at the Buffalo City Stadium.
• Kaizer Chiefs kept their dream of qualifying for the CAF Confederation Cup knockout phase alive by registering a rare win (1-0) against Zambian side Zesco United in their third Group D fixture in Ndola on Sunday.
Pule Mmodi’s solitary goal, his first of the campaign, in the second minute at the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium, is what Amakhosi needed to bag their maiden win against the Zambian side in continental football.
The win took Chiefs to four points with three rounds of fixtures remaining.
Chiefs’ next game in this competition is against the same Zesco at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday.
Chiefs made three changes to the starting line-up that narrowly beat Golden Arrows in the domestic league, their first game of the year, at the FNB Stadium midweek.
Khanyisa Mayo, Dillan Solomons and Mfundo Vilakazi started in the berths that were respectively occupied by Glody Lilepo, Thabiso Monyane and Mduduzi Shabalala against Abafana Bes’thende. — Additional reporting by Sihle Ndebele
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