Thanda get ready for second stanza
Thanda FC raring to go as NFD resumes
AT the halfway mark in the National First Division football season, Thanda Royal Zulu FC need to take stock as they look to lift themselves from their mid-table status.
On the positive side, they are in no danger of relegation, so have little to lose by being more attack minded in 2016.
Not that they have fared badly in this regard: they have in fact scored the fourth highest number of goals (17) among the league’s 16 sides.
But they have the worst defensive record in the NFD, with their own net having been rattled no fewer than 21 times.
The Amabhubesi have also let themselves down by failing to secure wins that were theirs for the taking, their six draws in 13 matches earning just six points from a possible 18 that would have put them just one point off the top of the table.
They resume next Saturday, 10 January with a home tie against Highlands Park and will want to start the return fixtures on a positive note for their faithful fans.
Looking back
Head coach Maj David Bright is confident his team is a good one and will enjoy many successes in the second half of the season.
Reflecting on their last outing, a controversial 1-0 loss to his former club Black Leopards, Bright said not only was the result disappointing, but the goal should never have been given.
‘The ball clearly hit our defender on the side of his chest but a penalty was given which settled the outcome.
‘In any case, it was a match that should never have been played, with the temperature at an extremely dangerous 42 degrees.
‘One of these days a player will collapse and die. The PSL is going to need to look carefully at mid-summer fixtures,’ said Bright.
‘As it was, the hosts expected my boys to wilt in the heat, but they never did. They played well right to the end and deserved to get something out of the game.’
Having made seven changes from the side that took the field against Amazulu in the Nedbank Cup, where he experimented with a number of youngsters, Bright now feels he knows his best starting eleven.
‘Watch us this year. We are back in training apart from a few days over Christmas and again over New Year and we will be back with a bang in a positive frame of mind.
‘We just need three or four wins to quickly propel us up the ladder.’
