Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Manqoba Mngqithi wants his back-up goalkeepers to earn their places in the team while Ronwen Williams is out with an injury.
Sundowns’ first choice goalkeeper and Bafana Bafana captain Williams is expected to be out for a while after undergoing shoulder surgery.
And to make matters worse, second choice Dennis Onyango has been handed a tow-match suspension after being given his marching orders in last weekend’s MTN8 win over Polokwane City.
Williams and Onyango’s absence means that the trio of Jody February, Reyaad Pieterse, and Sanele Tshabalala will have to fight it out among themselves for a chance to play.
February was brought on as an extra-time substitute on Sunday, and is seen as the natural replacement to hold the fort. Mnqgithi went as far as to praise the 28-year-old for his effort in pre-season.
“To be honest, there has been a big mindset change, a new paradigm in him (February) because he came in pre-season very early, looking in excellent shape and he has had a very good pre-season with us,” Mngqithi said, as quoted by Hollywoodbets.
“And I was happy for him even to get game-time though it was under the wrong circumstances. It was nice to see him in an official match and the fact that we ended up winning that match.
“Like I said, every cloud has got a silver lining. Sometimes it is important for these boys to get into the deep end so that they can swim and see what you have after that,” the Sundowns boss said.
“Now he, Reyaad and Sanele have to fight very hard whilst Ronwen is still out to make sure that we continue where we have ended.
“A player like him (February) must get an opportunity to play and I believe he is a very good goalkeeper, it’s just that maybe before he lacked a bit of personality, but I think now he understands what he needs to do.”
IOL Sport