Cape Town City coach Jan Vreman is positive that the Citizens will win the playoffs and return to the Premiership, explaining why last season’s experience of participating in this round-robin contest won’t count for anything this time around.
City, who were relegated from the Premiership last season after losing the same playoffs, having finished 15th, beat Leicesterford 4-2 in their last game of the season at Dobsonville Stadium over the weekend to finish as runners-up in the Motsepe Foundation Championship (MFC) behind champions Kruger United.
“What I saw this season is that we can beat every team, so I am positive that we can do it but we know that it will be very difficult,” Vreman said.
“I don’t think it’s about last season’s experience because it’s very different from what we are doing now and what they had this season.
“We are happy to be in the playoffs and they were not happy to be there last season because they were fighting for relegation and there was also a lot of pressure on the group, so the situation is totally different. Also, we have a lot of players who were not there last season.
Jaedin Rhodes scored a brace while Gabriel Amato and Dzenan Zajmovic were also on target for City against Leicesterford. City finished the season with 54 points, tied with Milford, who earned third spot to also qualify for the playoffs, where they will be joined by a team that will finish 15th in the topflight.
City boast a good mixture of youngsters and seasoned-campaigners on their roaster. Seventeen-year-old Emile Witbooi and 18-year-old Amato are some of the youngsters that shone for City this season, while experienced stars such as Keagan Dolly and Njabulo Ngcobo, among others, were also instrumental.
“The young players are good, very talented...they can play football, but the senior players know what to do at crucial moments. Even so, for me the most important thing is working together and age doesn’t really matter,” the City coach said.
The playoffs kick-off on May 26, with City hosting Milford.
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