Maritzburg United coach Gordon Igesund believes if his side beat BidVest Wits in their Absa Premiership clash at the Woodburn Stadium on Tuesday afternoon, their relegation fears will be well and truly over.
Igesund — the most successful local coach by winning the PSL championships four times with as many clubs — has found himself in a new situation this season trying to coach newly promoted United, who at the start of the season looked odds on favourites to go straight back to the first division.
United have beaten Bay United 2-1, Thanda Royal Zulu 2-1, and then continued with back-to-back wins over Santos. United won 1-0 in a league game at the Woodburn Stadium last weekend and last Friday night defeated the People´s Team 2-1 after extra time to become the first team to reach the quarterfinals of the Nedbank Cup.
But winning personal awards is the furthest thing from Igesund´s mind. He made United management a promise at the start of the season he would keep United in the top flight and he’s achieved that goal.
It was clever thinking on the part of chairperson Farook Kadodia to bring the experienced Igesund on board a month before the start of the season. The amazing fact is Igesund inherited eight players and had to bring in 15 more players before the season kicked-off.
Said Igesund: ”We are just about out of the woods. But to be safe we have to beat Wits. We are on a bit of a roll having won four straight matches and if we make that five, then we would be on 31 points and to me that is the safety margin.”
Igesund has never wavered from his belief he could save United.
”My players took a while to gel and get used to my coaching methods but they have all responded and rose to the challenge when the crunch came. I have great respect for Wits, but playing at home is a big motivating factor. We are certainly up for this game. The morale has never been better and now that relegation appears to be out of the way and we have reached the quarterfinals of the PSL’s major cup competition, it’s a massive boost,” he said.
United achieved the 2-1 win after extra time over Santos without three key players — striker Brice Aka, Swaziland winger Tiny Tsabedze and defender Dikulu Bageta — who were all on two yellow cards. All three will return to play against Wits.
Wits are fighting for a top-eight slot and coach Roger de Sa has done a great job with limited resources. At one stage his team were challenging the big boys for the championship, but now De Sa will be looking for a comfortable top-eight place.
Da Sa knows a win would keep him close to his goal of a top-eight finish and he’s successfully introduced new blood such as Tebogo Langerman, Calvin Kadi and the exciting Sam Ramosoeu. – Sapa