Win against Baroka will ease pressure on his troops, says coach

Highbury FC head coach Kabelo Sibiya said the win against Baroka FC would  take some pressure off his players.

The Gqeberha side registered their first three points of the season by beating Bakgakga 1-0 in a Motsepe Foundation Championship fixture at the Gelvandale Stadium on Sunday.

Siyabonga Dubula’s penalty in the second half earned them the vital win.

The success also marked the Yellow Nation’s first victory at home this season.

Before this, Highbury played to two consecutive draws in their season-opening matches. 

“Honestly, one is very happy with the performance, more than the results,” Sibiya said.

“The guys stuck to the game plan. Baroka are one of the teams that control ball possession. 

“We know the coach, Dan Dance Malesela, he believes in possession football.

“So, we had to plan a certain way and I believe we did well in our planning.

“We kept a clean sheet for the first time this season. We have been scoring goals and we have been conceding goals late. 

“Even today, I could see that towards the end we were under pressure.

“But the guys today stuck to the game plan, and we had chances, and we could have scored one or two more goals. 

“However, we are very happy with how the guys applied themselves.

“The victory will also take pressure off the guys. We have a team that we believe are good with good players.

“We made top recruitments, and I believe this is a championship team.

“I am very happy for the guys that they finally got their first win in the league this season.”

Baroka coach Malesela remains hopeful that his troops will bounce back.

The Polokwane side kicked off their league campaign with a 1-0 defeat to league rookies The Bees, but managed to bounce back quickly by beating Midlands Wanderers 3-0 in their previous encounter, before coming to Gqeberha.

“It’s very unfortunate that we were scored via a penalty — a very dubious penalty, you can literally see that the player is pulling out, but it was given.

“I think also we squandered the chances that we had to equalise, unfortunately, but you cannot fault the boys for the offences they are making.

“We tried and created chances; if we did not create chances, then I would say it’s not good.

“We created chances, and one can only look ahead with optimism to say people will get better with every match.

“The biggest downfall is that some of our players, because they are new to this, look a bit scared, but confidence comes with every match.

“However, the challenge is that with every match, there are points that you have to fight for.

“We’ll just keep on pushing them and encouraging them towards success. I am very optimistic that things will get better,” Malesela said.

The Herald