Tshepo Molwane
18 March 2008
Cape Town Santos' coach, David Bright of Botswana was once again the hero over the weekend after his side eliminated Soweto giants, Orlando Pirates from the Nedbank Challenge Cup.
Santos beat Pirates 5-4 in a penalty shoot-out after both sides failed to break at 2-2 deadlock in 120 minutes of football. It was Santos' goalkeeper Wayne Roberts who denied Pirates victory when he saved three penalties from Lebogang Mokoena, captain Teko Modise and Lindokuhle Mkhwanazi before a capacity crowd at the Athlone Stadium. After the game, Bright was lifted high by officials of the club. The victory came after Santos beat Pirates 2-0 in a league game at the same venue recently.
Bright told Mmegi Sport yesterday that he is happy his charges managed to proceed to the next round of the competition. He said though they let Pirates come back into the game after leading 2-0, his team showed a lot of character. "To beat Pirates twice in a few weeks is something to cherish. The win will give the boys confidence in the upcoming games," he told Mmegi Sport.
Bright pointed out that when Pirates fought their way back into the game, he was not worried because he has confidence in his charges. The former Botswana Under-23 coach said that he knew that their opponents would get tired. "The plan was that we get the goal in extra-time but if we fail, we should push them into penalties. We had done our work, having practised penalties for close to 40 minutes on Saturday," he told Mmegi Sport. The former Botswana national coach said the Santos' fraternity is happy with the current developments at the club. He is confident that their support base will grow with the recent rich vein of form. "Even the owner Mr Goolam (Allie) called me after the game. He is happy with the results because when he employed me, some people had doubts whether a Botswana coach can take the club anywhere," he said. Bright added that he is happy with his progress because he is representing Botswana well. He asserted that he wants to make Batswana proud. "I understand that a lot of people there (in Botswana) are rallying behind Santos now," he said.
Santos' next game will be a league clash away to Bloemfontein Celtic at the Seisa Ramabodu Stadium on Sunday. With Santos' current form, they are favoured to send their opponents packing. Celtic is not helped by the fact that they were beaten 3-2 by lower division side, Ikapa Sporting in the Nedbank Challenge Cup game on Saturday.
Though they have retained the services of coach, Khabo Zondo, Celtic are going through a rough patch and Santos might make their problems worse.
Meanwhile, Bright has accepted the Chairperson Award bestowed on him at the BNSC/Orange Awards ceremony at the GICC on Friday night. The award was received on his behalf by his wife. "It is a great honour for me to have gotten that award," he said from Cape Town.
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