Madibaz not out of Varsity Football

The Madibaz football team are fighting to keep their Varsity Football campaign alive after going down 0-2 to the University of Pretoria at the Tuks Sport Stadium in Pretoria on Monday night.

After three rounds, the team from Port Elizabeth are languishing at the bottom of the log and have everything to play for with four more fixtures remaining before the play-offs.

“We are down but not out of this competition,” said Madibaz head coach Graeme Harrison.

“Our log position is not favourable at the moment but we are not giving up hope. We are going to fight until the end.”

Harrison said the final score did not accurately reflect how evenly matched the two sides had been.

“I wouldn’t say that Tuks dominated us. We conceded a silly goal and they also got a penalty.

“So once again a lapse of concentration led to them taking one over on us,” he said.

Harrison said that although Tuks’ defence had been strong, NMMU’s defence had stood out and that they had performed “magnificently”.

“They were on top of their game, so we are disappointed in how we conceded those goals.”

Fortune also did not favour the Madibaz, as they were unlucky to be denied a penalty.

“We need the ball to roll our way and get a bit of luck so we can finally get the ball into the net,” said Harrison.

He said his players had been working hard on their attacking strategy and ball possession and would continue to focus on these things ahead of next week’s game.

“We’re not going to stop what we’re doing and we are just hoping that, once we get that first goal, things will start turning around for us. We just need that one breakthrough.”

Harrison said the team would make maximum use of their time to regroup before their first home game against log leaders North-West University on August 13.

“I have to say that all the away games are taking their toll on the boys and our injuries haven’t helped much either. But we are not using that as an excuse,” said Harrison.

“Right now it seems as though all the odds are against us and everyone is writing us off. But we are going to come back from this, we are going to fight hard and we are not going to give up.”

The NWU game kicks off at 6.30pm at the Madibaz Stadium in Port Elizabeth next week Thursday.