It’s all systems go for the season opener

Tracy-Lee Pepper believes she has done everything possible in preparing her Alex United players for their opening game of the season this Saturday.

United will face Soweto Panthers at the Balfour Park Stadium at 1pm in the opener to the newly formed ABC Motsepe League, which replaces the Safa Second Division League as a precursor to the National First Division League.

“It’s now up to the players to do the rest,” Pepper said.

Pepper said the team had been training hard in preparation for the opening of the season, which has been delayed by the bungling of the South African Football Association.

“It’s all systems go for the season opener. My players have been training during the off-season and have shown their readiness to start off the league with a bang. I am more than happy with what I have seen both in training and in the friendlies we have played in the off-season, one of which was against the premiership side Moroka Swallows.

“The boys have shown their guts, their eagerness, their determination and the hunger to excel, and I hope all will prevail in Saturday’s game which we are quite confident to win,” Pepper said.

This will be her first competitive game as first female coach of an all-male soccer outfit after being appointed head coach during the off-season in place of Madida Letele, who guided the team in the previous season and missed winning the league by a single point.

League winners in both the inland and coastal streams qualify for the promotional play-offs which decide which teams gain promotion to the NFD. They are then involved in the promotional play-offs with two teams relegated from the NFD.