Polokwane City coach expects Betway Premiership points race to intensify

Polokwane City coach Moloto believes the Betway Premiership has become significantly more competitive and warned that the fight for points will grow tougher after his side’s goalless home draw with Milford.

Rise and Shine have taken five points from their opening four league matches of the new campaign. Their cautious start follows a seventh-place finish last season under then-coach Phuti Mohafe, when the club earned praise for its consistency in the top flight.

Moloto accepted that Polokwane City had hoped to collect maximum points against Milford on Wednesday night, but said the quality of teams across the division meant even a single point could prove valuable.

“You should check the league has improved a lot, they are no longer a small team, they are no longer a newcomer, it’s all about how you apply the game and the tactical approach when you go to the game,” Moloto said.

He pointed to Milford’s confidence in possession and their work-rate as evidence of the challenge facing teams in the division. Milford’s progress, he added, did not begin this season but stretches back to their time in the NFD.

“You see Milford, they have confidence in the ball and it doesn’t start now. It started in the NFD, they have good players where by they can run the whole day. So, teams like this if you can get a point from them, even though we are supposed to get maximum points, take the points and work on the other games and be happy.”

Moloto was also encouraged by the fact that Polokwane City remain within reach of the leaders. He said the difference between the two sides was only five points, although he was unsure of the other result at the top of the table.

“You must remember in this league if you have one point you must be grateful because if you start from zero, you’ll find yourself in there. Now if we go and get another three points, you are on eight points, we are still up there because the difference between us and number one is only five points, I don’t know about the other result but I’ll take one point and build it from there.”

The coach felt the draw was shaped partly by individual errors, despite being satisfied with the team’s overall improvement during the match.

“I think we’ve done well in terms of training even though we had a purchase of good performances in the first half and second half we were much better. I think we worked more in terms of defense, especially set place and closing gaps in the open play in the first half and second half. I think Tidimalo [Molokwane] needs to wake up,” the coach added.

Moloto said Polokwane City had created enough opportunities to win, but were let down by complacency in the penalty area.

“We should just wrap up the game in two occasions but he was so complacent in the box, so it’s something that I think I should correct him and work around it.”

The result leaves Polokwane City with five points from four matches as they prepare for an increasingly demanding Betway Premiership campaign.