AmaTuks head coach Kwanele Kopo has commended his players for what he says is resilience after playing 93 minutes of their draw against Midlands Wanderers with a makeshift goalkeeper.
The University of Pretoria played to a 1-1 draw against the Motsepe Foundation Championship newcomers, who were recently promoted from the SAFA ABC Motsepe League, at Harry Gwala Stadium in Pietermaritzburg last Saturday.
However, AmaTuks were forced to use defender Sbongakonke Mgwaba as a goalkeeper for much of the match.
This is despite having both Veli Mothwa and Mcebisi Langa on the original teamsheet before the match.
KWANELE KOPO DETAILS WHY THEY WERE FORCED TO USE A DEFENDER AS A GOALKEEPER
Kopo has since detailed what transpired at the match where they ended up playing with Mgwaba as a goalkeeper.
“Veli got injured during the warm-ups. An injury that nobody understands, but he was in pain during the warm-up,” Kopo told FARPost. “So we had to change and put in the reserve goalkeeper. This left us with an injured Veli on the bench. Then the Keeper got the red card in the fourth minute of the game, which was unfortunate because we felt that he was not the one who committed the foul. But it is what it is. One of our defenders had to go in goals, and we had to shuffle the team around.”
AMATUKS PLAYERS PUT IN A BIG FIGHT AGAINST MIDLANDS WANDERERS
“We played 93 minutes with 10 players and an in-field player in goal. I think the team is beginning to be more cohesive. The players are starting to believe more.
“They showed a lot of character in that game. We suffered a lot, and we spoke about it. But we have to give credit to the players. They showed a lot of character and resilience. Nobody put their heads down. In fact, they were picking each other up to keep their heads up.”
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