Alex’s Birds still rue lost opportunity from a season of high expectations
ALEXANDRA – Beautiful Birds coach Malvin Khumalo believes the past season is water under the bridge as he seeks to mount yet another attempt at gaining glory.
Bluebirds Ladies still rue lost opportunities from a 2017 season in the Sasol Women’s League in which a lot was expected from the star-studded dream team.
But the season ended up in disappointment for the Beautiful Birds and coach Malvin Khumalo believes that’s water under the bridge as he seeks to mount yet another attempt at gaining glory.
“I know we had assembled a dream team in which a lot was expected from us but it all ended up in virtual disappointment,” he said.
“But I believe there is a number of positives we can take from the disappointment and use them to build the brand as we journey forward.
“Some of those positives include the fact that we won the offseason JM Busha Women’s Tournament, we were silver medalists in the highly regarded Map Games and managed to reach the Top 8 of the Sasol League for the first time, and all these are positive we can use to build the team on our way forward.”
Khumalo said another big positive for the team was that they managed to hold multi-championship winning Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies to a 1–1 draw in their opening match, which he said was as good as a win for them.
“We have taken the township and put it on the map – people come all the way here [Alex] to play us. We had two teams from Swaziland, one from Zimbabwe and an American outfit – all coming to play us in Alexandra. This is history for a struggling team in Alex.
“To attract those people to our shores shows there is something that we’re doing right. We flew the township flag high up there last season but getting to the top is one thing and sustaining it is another. We need to build resilience in the team and the ability to keep momentum.”
Khumalo added that the team could not afford to be good today, bad the next day and bounce back on the third day and so forth. “We need to win games and build on that momentum. Being on and off is not good enough.
“We’re currently analysing to see what the things we did right are and keeping them, and where we went wrong and improving on them. We need to build a leadership foundation for the players based on the principles of the project and not the incentives, and in that way, we can soldier on.”
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