Duncan Lechesa aims to take VFC to higher level

The new head coach of Venda Football Club (VFC), Mr Duncan Lechesa, is optimistic that his team has the potential to gain promotion to the DStv Premiership Division at the end of the current season. During an interview with him shortly after the team’s league game against Black Leopards at the Thohoyandou Stadium last Saturday, the former Polokwane City head coach said that he was impressed with the team’s performance.

Last Saturday’s game was the first for Lechesa as the head coach of the team, following his appointment to the hot seat on Monday, 6 November. Mr Lechesa was confident that VFC would excel if the team’s performance in their game against Black Leopards was anything to go by. The final score was 1-1.

Lechesa said that the players were very talented and had already adapted to his coaching philosophy. According to him, the team did not deserve to be where it was on the log standings when taking into account the quality of players who were in their camp. VFC are lying in the 13^th position on the log with 12 points, 10 behind the pace setters, Orbit College FC.

When asked which departments he would prioritise if he were to beef up the current squad, the 47-year-old mentor said that he would need to solidify all the departments if they were serious about promotion to the higher division. He said that he would make some recommendations to the management of the team for their consideration when the transfer window opened in January.

When asked if he had been given any mandate by the club, Mr Lechesa said that his employers had not put him under pressure by setting targets for him. He said, however, that his aim was to collect at least 10 points in the five matches they would play before the break for the festive holidays.

VFC’s next league match will be against the University of Pretoria at the Absa Tuks Stadium in Pretoria on Sunday, 26 November.

Date:18 November 2023

By: Frank Mavhungu

Frank is a Human Resources Manager at the Department of Public Works in Limpopo. He is the longest serving correspondent of the Mirror, having joined us at the end of 1990.  He mainly writes sports reports and resides at Tsianda Village. In 2004, Frank won the National Castle League Award, an award for the best reporter in the SAB league in South Africa.

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