Siwelele coach Seema remains calm despite winless Betway Premiership start

Siwelele coach Lehlohonolo Seema says there is no reason for panic after his side collected only one point from their opening three matches of the Betway Premiership season.

The Free State outfit have suffered two defeats and drawn once, leaving them still waiting for their first victory of the campaign. Despite that difficult beginning, Seema believes the team’s performances have been encouraging and argues that their main weakness has been their inability to finish the opportunities they create.

“I’m not worried that much because of the way we’re playing,” said Seema.

The coach acknowledged that the lack of goals has been evident, but said it was a problem the squad understood and was working to address.

“It’s just that we can’t convert, it’s something we all know and that we can see.”

Siwelele have also added strikers to their squad, although those players have yet to receive the paperwork required to work in South Africa. Until that process is completed, they cannot make their debuts and Seema must continue without the attacking reinforcements he expects to improve the team’s finishing.

The delays have left Siwelele short of options in attack during the early weeks of the season. Seema said midfielders could not be expected to carry the entire responsibility for scoring while the club waited for the new forwards to be cleared.

“There’s no strikers, we can’t rely on midfielders to get us goals, at the moment we haven’t gotten the players we want, we’re waiting for [papers], there’s nothing we can do,” he added.

Although the results have been disappointing, Seema insisted he remained satisfied with the players currently available to him. He also rejected the suggestion that the squad was missing a particular player, maintaining that the team had enough quality to recover from its early setback.

“But I’m not missing anyone, I’m happy with the squad that I have. I can tell you we’re going to turn the corner.

Siwelele have lost both of their away matches so far, a sequence Seema admitted had been damaging for the club and frustrating for its supporters. However, he remains confident that the side can change its fortunes as the season progresses.

“It’s a bad trip, losing two away games, it’s bad for us and our supporters but this team we are going to turn the corner.”

The club’s immediate challenge is to turn its positive aspects of play into goals and, ultimately, its first Betway Premiership win. Seema’s belief is that improved finishing, together with the eventual availability of the signed strikers, can help Siwelele move away from their winless start.

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