Highbury’s struggles to turn opportunities into goals are threatening to derail their promotion ambitions this season.
On Sunday, the Yellow Nation slipped to a 1-0 defeat to Milford at the Richards Bay Stadium.
The Gqeberha club has failed to win a Motsepe Foundation Championship league fixture in eight consecutive matches.
In those eight games, they only managed to score once, in a 2-1 loss to the Lerumo Lions.
Highbury’s last victory came in November against Upington United.
Despite their dominance against Milford on Sunday, Highbury failed to capitalise on their opportunities, which coach Kabelo Sibiya admits has become a source of concern.
Highbury are 12th on the log, with 20 points from 18 matches.
They are 16 points away from automatic promotion and 12 away from a playoff spot for promotion.
“We dominated the game,” Sibiya said.
“We created chances in the first half, we had four clear-cut chances.
“We had the opportunity to lead at halftime, but regrettably, we lost those opportunities inside the box.
“In the first half, the opposition had one opportunity; the goalie saved it and after a rebound, they scored.
“We were down 1-0 at half-time.
“We fought and created chances when we returned in the second half, but we still suffer from the missed opportunities.
“Even though we are controlling football games and creating more opportunities than the opposition, we are unable to finish.
“We’re going to keep working hard on the penetration and completion phase. The players were given two days off.
“We’ll return on Wednesday and continue to work hard on the final third.”
Sibiya believes their current inability to convert opportunities is due to a lack of confidence.
“We must also try to help the players psychologically so that they do not over-stress themselves, but I believe some of the missed opportunities are now psychological.
“Because the more you miss, the more you feel like you’re failing yourself, your teammates and the club.
“We need to tap into that psychological space to try and help the players,” the coach said.
Highbury’s next match is against Gomora in Gqeberha on February 27 at 3.30pm.
The Herald
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