Chippa coach urges Rakhale to work on his defensive contribution

Chippa United coach, Norman Mapeza, has praised Thabo “Jomo” Rakhale for the brilliant goal he scored just 17 seconds to their Absa Premiership match against Black Leopards at Thohoyandou Stadium on Wednesday night but also called on the tricky midfielder to also be helpful when the team are under attack.

Rakhale scored with a scorching shot from just outside the Lidoda Duvha 18-yard area box right from the start of the match to set the Chilli Boys for an important 2-1 win. Silas Maziya scored the second just a few seconds to the end of the match after Lesedi Kapinga had equalised for the home side.

“How many seconds was it? Three, oh 17… That was a brilliant goal. He is a good player but he should work on his defensive side of the game. In terms of going forward, I don’t have any problems with him but he should improve on giving us something when we are defending,” said the Chilli Boys’ mentor in a post-match interview.

Mapeza also praised his team for a gallant effort which saw them move to tenth position with 20 goals after 16 games.

“Yho! It was a difficult game, hey. You know football sometimes… it’s not easy. I am happy for the boys and I think we kept on going. In the last 10 minutes, I said, ‘Look if we can’t get that [second] goal, a draw is okay for us’.

“I knew they were going to come at us playing at home and leave those gaps behind. I am happy we managed to get three points away from home,” said the 47-year-old Zimbabwean mentor.

“We had two difficult matches. Last game against Polokwane City, it wasn’t easy at all. And coming here wasn’t easy at all. But we have to keep pushing. From here we are going straight to East London to play Maritzburg United which is another difficult match.

“It’s all about hard work and the boys know that if they work hard everything will fall into place. I think the hard work and desire to keep grinding the result is what is keeping us going at the moment,” he added.

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