Hard work paying off at AmaZulu

With history against them, and the defeat to Black Leopards in the Nedbank Cup recently the only dot on AmaZulu FC’s otherwise clean record since the arrival of Benni McCarthy as coach, Usuthu had to sweat for a rare win at Thohoyandou Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

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Usuthu beat Lidoda Duvha 1-0 in the DStv Premiership match, and the three points gained have helped the Durban side leap to third place, but are equal on 37 points with Golden Arrows who are second because of a better goal ratio.

And while leaders, Mamelodi Sundowns are three games behind, Usuthu are now just a win away from sharing the top spot, something that’s not happened for a really long time. The team have been used to staving off relegation at this time of the season.

Usuthu captain, Mbongeni Gumede credited the team’s rise to the hard work that they’ve been putting in to ensure they deliver on the promises they made to the club’s management that they’d finish in the top four.

“With the hard work that’s been put in since the arrival of the new coach and his technical team now bearing fruit, we are getting closer and closer to satisfying the objectives set out by the club’s management. They want us to finish among the top four sides, and I think we are on the right track to deliver that,” said Gumede.

That hard work was what saw them emerge victorious in Venda on Sunday, Gumede says. “It was a really tough game, but we managed to get the three points which is what we needed the most.

“We had to work hard because even history was against us. It shows that whenever we come this side as AmaZulu the best result we get is a draw. But today we were determined to do better, and we did.

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