Pirates coach hopes goal will get Shonga up and running

Orlando Pirates coach Milutin Sredojevic was glad to see his striker Justin Shonga (right) finally getting the monkey off his back when he scored in the team’s 2-1 victory over Polokwane City at the Peter Mokaba Stadium in a midweek league clash.

It was important for Shonga to get a goal, having missed plenty of chances in the club’s previous games, including a penalty miss in their 2-1 victory against arch-rivals Kaizer Chiefs.

Sredojevic expects Shonga’s goal to make him more confident, especially looking at their next league fixture against Mamelodi Sundowns at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

“It ws disappointing to see Justin Shonga missing that penalty and missing chances. However, we have trust and confidence in him, and so do his team-mates. In the last three matches, he has scored a goal and made three assists.

“This is something we value more because when you assist, two people are happy, the player you assisted and yourself,” said the Bucs coach.

“We are very satisfied (with Shonga) and a player without confidence who is being attacked right and left is like a balloon without air. I hope that the goal he scored will inject some confidence in him because he is a very good player. He showed that with the goal he scored and the assists he made. We are expecting to see his confidence grow and he will get better. We shall support him all the way.”

Pirates head into this daunting task against Downs in good form. They are currently on a 10-game unbeaten run in all competitions. Even with the numbers suggesting a huge improvement in the team, Sredojevic adds that the team are far from where he wants them to be.

“We are far from being a well-oiled machine, we have huge room for development and space for improvement. We have to look at our injuries as we had two tough matches. We shall focus on the situation in the team and think about the things ahead of us.”

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