Magesi building defensive fortress

Building a solid defence has been coach Owen da Gama’s priority since taking over at Magesi and after they won a fifth successive home match when they beat Stellenbosch 1-0 at the Seshego Stadium on Saturday, he said he was happy with the progress.

Magesi won 1-0 to move further away from the relegation places up to 11th in the Betway Premiership standings. It was a fifth clean sheet in a row at the Seshego Stadium.

“I learned long time ago from experience and what (former Manchester United manager) Alex Ferguson said that you build a team from the back, and if you get it right at the back, you always have a chance of winning,” he explained.

“We didn't get a lot of chances, but when we got one, we took it, and it was a good goal,” said Da Gama of substitute Thabang Sibanyoni’s 79th minute winner.

“So I think we got the defence, right, but also (Lehlohonolo) Mtshali has been magnificent in the middle with (Motsie) Matima. I think (Bafedile) Baloyi’s off the ball running gives a lot of teams trouble and Kayden Rademeyer is going to be a future star. He's just unbelievable.

“It's nice to see because what was happening when I arrived, this team was playing with a very low block. They were the team that conceded the most goals from outside the box. So we started working on that.

"We started getting like more to a midblock and I think that has helped us tremendously because now there's spaces where people can cover for each other.

“I can't talk about the tactics because it sounds a bit arrogant, but I think we got it right to make sure that (Stellenbosch’s) quick players don't have enough space behind the defence. They got it right once or twice, but I think the majority of the time, there was very good cover.”

Magesi’s move to Seshego from Polokwane’s Peter Mokaba Stadium has paid dividends as they have turned the venue into something of a fortress.

Saturday’s result left them three points behind eighth placed Kaizer Chiefs.

“We're not even thinking of the top eight there, to be honest with you. We just want to get out there,” said Da Gama, who replaced Clinton Larsen as coach at the end of December.

“We still got big games to play. We've got to play (Mamelodi) Sundowns away, (Orlando) Pirates. I think we’ll just take it one game at a time, that's the only thing we can do now. Fight for our lives for that one game and then we look at the next one. We're not looking ahead of anything else,” Da Gama concluded.