Sun serves the Rays

Germiston Rays FC faced Reiger Park’s Sun United on Luso Africa’s grounds, on Saturday.

This fixture was one of the many in the SAB Castle League.

Both teams were under pressure to pocket a win and gain the three points, as the league hasn’t been too good for either team.

The pressure and nerves from both sides saw a fair touch-and-go of the ball during the first few minutes of the match, as the teams were seemingly warming into the game and analysing each other’s style of play.

Rays’ formation of attack-on-attack forced Sun into having to put out a tough defence line, but the Rays couldn’t capitalise on their attack, which resulted in them conceding two goals.

“That was a big mistake for us, because it resulted in us trailing far behind after those two conceded goals; I think what rattled the team was the two-goal lead so early in the game,” said the Germiston Rays coach, Nhlanhla Dube.

Two goals by Sun United had the Rays rapidly changing their attack formation into defence.

It was fair play until the Rays landed their first goal, and what a fine goal it was, just a few minutes before the half-time whistle.

At this point the Rays’ morale was boosted, as they seemed to have a shot at recovery.

In the second half, both teams seemed more confident, even though the coaches seemed not to be happy with their players’ performances.

Sun extended the relaxed mood of the second half when they extended their lead with two more goals, one after the other.

While pressure piled on the Rays, Sun put out a robust defence backline and their goal keeper pulled off a number of fine saves.

With both teams playing defensively, the match saw no further goals and ended with a 4-1 scoreboard, in favour of Sun United.

Suns’ coach felt his boys played well although there is still room for improvement.

“It was a well-played game; we are happy with the win, because the league hasn’t been really good for us,” said Charlton van Bresies.

“With three losses in a row, we are at mid-table in terms of the league, but I believe we still have a shot at improving and moving up with the eight games remaining.”

The Rays’ loss didn’t bring down the morale of the team, as they kept comforting each other and shaking hands, even with their opponents.

“I understand that we lost, but I see a huge difference in the team’s performance; I only recently joined the team and we are currently fighting relegation, they are playing better than when I joined,” said Dube.

“We managed to sustain the game until the end; we just have to go back to the drawing board, we are still on track and with the matches left I strongly believe that we can survive relegation.

“This week, on Saturday, we are scheduled to play against Sat Bolivia FC, here again at Luso Africa, looking forward to it.”