The situation is rapidly going from bad to worse in the Venda Football Club (VFC) camp. The team dropped two crucial points last Saturday when they were held to a goalless draw by Orbit College in their Motsepe Foundation Championship League match at Olympia Park Stadium in Rustenburg.
In an effort to turn their fortunes around, VFC fired former head coach Vladislav Heric on Christmas Day (25 December) last year, replacing him with former Baroka FC head coach Stanford Nkoane.
At the time of Nkoane's appointment, VFC were languishing at the bottom of the log. Maunavhathu, as they are affectionately known, have since collected eight points under his leadership. Nkoane's first match in charge was a 2-0 victory over Black Leopards on 11 January. His biggest win so far came on 1 February, when VFC thrashed Baroka FC 5-1 at Thohoyandou Stadium.
VFC are currently second from the bottom of the log with 17 points from 20 matches. Adding to their woes, fellow relegation candidates Cape Town Spurs boosted their survival hopes with a 2-1 victory over Highbury FC at Athlone Stadium in Cape Town last Saturday.
Despite this, Nkoane remains optimistic that VFC will soon climb out of the relegation zone. He pointed out that securing a point away from home was a positive sign that the team was on the right track, referring to their recent goalless draw against Orbit College.
VFC's next fixture is a must-win clash against Cape Town Spurs at Thohoyandou Stadium on Wednesday, 12 March.