The new head coach of Venda Football Academy FC (VFA), Mr Simo Dladla, is optimistic that his presence in the club will be felt in their next three matches. Dladla was shouting instructions to the players from the team's technical bench for the first time in their game against University of Pretoria FC at the Thohoyandou Stadium last Saturday, which ended in a 0-0 draw.
The soft-spoken mentor was appointed to the position last week. Mr Dladla has taken over from Mr Michael Loftman, who guided the team in their first five league games. This relationship came to an abrupt end after VFA could win only one match, while losing four times.
As a temporary arrangement, VFA had appointed Mr Kabelo Sibiya as a caretaker coach, following Mr Loftman's departure. The team then lost the two matches they had played under the guidance of Sibiya.
Speaking to a contingent of journalists after the team's game against University of Pretoria, or Amatuks as they are widely known, Dladla said that he was impressed by the talent he had noticed in the team since his arrival last week.
He said that he was working on finding a winning combination from the pool of talent they had in their camp. Dladla said that he had been told before he had joined the club that the players' level of fitness was far below par and that playing a full game was difficult for them. He expanded on this by saying that he had noticed in last Saturday's game against Amatuks that this was definitely not the case. According to him, his players were still looking strong at the end of the tough game.
VFA are perched in the 13th spot on the log standings with seven points. Their next fixture will be against Cape Town All Stars at the Cape Town Stadium on Sunday afternoon.