Notsi rallies troops after defeat

MASERU – Linare head coach Leslie Notši has rallied his troops after yesterday’s 2-0 defeat against Bantu in the Vodacom Premier League. He said the defeat does not make Linare a bad team.

‘Tse Tala’ mentor said his players will learn from their mistakes going into their next games and that it is through playing tough games that they can grow.

With four games to go, Bantu control their own destiny in the title race and Linare, like other championship hopefuls, will need big favours from the likes of Lijabatho, while they also need to make sure they do not drop any further points.

Notši said Linare were expecting a tough game, against a big opponent.

“I believe we took the game to them and they did the same to us,” Notsi said.

“Yes, in the second half they scored but we were reaching their box a lot. We made mistakes, especially the second goal which killed us. I still believe in my players, they did well and I still believe it is not yet over, we still have games and we learnt a lot from this one, we will come back on Sunday,” he said.

When Notši arrived at Linare they were sitting mid-table and now they find themselves in the title race mix while also trying to solidify their place in the top four. He said finishing among the league best four is still a possibility.

“We are there and there is still a possibility. I believe in the players, we have played six, seven games winning and scoring.” he said.

“There were mistakes in our defence, you see there are areas where they still lack confidence and we need to fix that,” Notši added.

“People learn from their mistakes and playing will help us. We will continue and I think we will still collect,” he continued.

Notši started the game without one of his key players in John Mofokeng who sat on the bench after returning from an injury that side-lined him for two games. He said Mofokeng still has a role to play in the coming games and that they did not want to put him under pressure.

“He was injured and he missed two matches and he only started training on Tuesday, he didn’t play against Liphakoe and (Lesotho Mounted Police Service),” Notši said.

“There are still big games to come. We did not want to put him under-pressure and the time he was on the pitch (today) he played the way we expected. We are going to need him in the upcoming games to compete in the Top 4.”

Tlalane Phahla