Heartbroken Alex’s Dondol Stars coach Vincent ‘Young Master’ Rammoni takes defeat on the chin
Alex's Dondol Stars coach Vincent 'Young Master' Rammoni believes his side failed to gain promotion because they never played their normal game and that was how the cookie crumbled.
Dondol Stars’ Alex co-coach Vincent ‘Young Master’ Rammoni, devastated as he may be after the failure to qualify for the Motsepe Foundation Championship, believes there is still ‘life after adversity’.
“I was devastated after the loss and failure to qualify for the championship, and so were the players, fans and fellow coaching staff, including club management but we still have a life to live even after adversity,” Rammoni told Alex News after his side was knocked out of contention in the ABC Motsepe League national playoffs.
Dondol, who performed miracles in the Nedbank Cup 2023 by beating giants such as SuperSport United and AmaZulu FC before taking the Mighty Buccaneers to the wire and ultimately losing on penalties, did not perform well in the playoffs in Pietermaritzburg.
The side, who had gained notoriety as the giant killers of the Nedbank Cup, lost its opening match 2–1 to uMsinga United and uMsinga went on to beat Buffalo City 7–1. Dondol later beat Buffalo City 2–1 but failed to qualify for the semis.
uMsinga qualified and so did Upington City, Mpheni Home Defenders and Orbit College. As there were only three groups, the top three teams gained automatic qualification for the semis while the fourth team with more points or a better goal difference than the rest was deemed as having qualified.
After the semis, uMsinga United and Orbit College contested the final promotion spot, with Orbit emerging victorious 1–0.
“I’ve never felt like this in my entire life as a coach and I was extremely hurt, the cut inside me is way too big but I’ve learnt so much from this, and I believe it has grown me as a person and coach. I’m no longer the same as I was when I got here.
“I’m now more mature, wiser, more experienced and the learnings won’t be taken away by anybody or anything as it’s something I’ll carry with me till the last day of my life and I’m so grateful for the opportunity,” the Young Master said.
“Even the players were literally in tears and the scene was so sad. I have never experienced such grief from players but I guess they also learnt a thing or two and will emerge even more hardened for such eventualities.”
On where they lost it as a team, Rammoni said they lost it in the first game against uMsinga as they played without character, flair and courage. “We lost our play identity in the first game.”
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