Sundowns’ Williams warned not to rest on his laurels

If the competition for Goalkeeper of the Season were to be decided now, Mamelodi Sundowns’ Ronwen Williams would be the frontrunner to land the coveted goalies’ gong.

Williams arrived at Sundowns from crosstown foes, SuperSport United, with a lot of expectation, given that he was United’s captain and has the same responsibility at Bafana Bafana.

The 30-year-old has enjoyed close to 15 seasons in the top flight, and not once has he had a better start as he is enjoying in the colours of the Brazilians. Williams has so far conceded just five goals in 12 DStv Premiership games for Downs, helping the defending champions to continue their dominance.

His coach, Rulani Mokwena says while all the credit goes to Williams, a lot of praises should be directed at his fellow goalkeepers, especially Denis Onyango, who has had to watch Williams takeover his number one spot.

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“It is a biblical principle and they say iron sharpens iron. If you see the performances of Ronwen Williams, you also have to give credit to the goalkeeping coach Wendel Robinson. But you also have to give a lot of credit to Denis Onyango, Reyaad Pieterse and Kennedy Mweene for the competition that they give him.

“Ronwen knows that Denis should be a number one goalkeeper in any other team in the league and so is Kennedy. For sure Reyaad can also stake a claim and that is why we rewarded him with a position on the bench this season. Part of having a good boxer is to have a good sparring partner.

“Ronwen knows that in any moment if any one of the other goalkeepers take to the field, the chances of reclaiming that position are going to be very difficult. He has to try by all means to be consistent with his performances and stake the claim of being the number one goalkeeper at the club, which is not easy because of the level of competition,” Mokwena added.

Williams will be part of the Carling Black Label Cup extravaganza this weekend, where Downs will take on AmaZulu win a curtain raiser for the second semifinal between Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs at the FNB Stadium.

Williams was the most popular among Sundowns supporters as he racked in close to 30 000 votes.