Notši to stay at Kick4Life

Luciah Phahla

Maseru

Leslie Notši says he is happy at Kick4Life and has confirmed he will be back at the club next season.

Speaking at the team’s end of season press briefing on Monday, the former Lesotho coach also revealed ambitions of a Vodacom Premier League title challenge next season.

Notši replaced Motlalepula Mofolo as Kick4Life coach last November and was tasked with achieving a top eight finish.

When Notši took over, Kick4Life were struggling and had amassed only two wins and 12 points from 11 games. Notši turned the ship around, however, and steered Kick4Life to an impressive sixth place finish in only the side’s second season in the top-flight.

Unsurprisingly, Kick4Life football manager Chris Bullock said the club will be offering Notši a new contract and, addressing media, Notši said he is content at the Old Europa outfit.

He applauded the team’s campaign and credited his technical team, club management and the players for their hard work.

Notši, however, refused to speculate on whether Kick4Life could have pinched a top four spot if he had been in charge for the entire campaign.

“I cherish what we have in hand and I am happy,” Notši said. “It’s been a very good season for the club. To reach the position we are now we had to dig deep and put our minds together as the technical team, management and the players.”

“It was very tough. We engaged players in everything so that we were in the same line. They had to work hard to be comparative with other teams. Thanks (as well) to management, they did some things that really helped us a lot.”

He continued: “I have to give credit to the players, they worked really hard. I don’t want to say yes we would have finished among the top four if I arrived at the beginning of the season, I am just happy we are in the top eight.”

Notši pointed to the club’s five games as testament to their resolve.

Kick4Life ended the season with fixtures against Likila United, Lioli, Bantu and Likhopo before being hammered 4-1 by Matlama on the final day of the season.

All matches had plenty at stake with Kick4Life’s opponents either scrapping to escape relegation, battling for a top four finish or competing for the title.

Notši said his players had to be psychologically prepared though he admitted his team was nowhere to be seen in the first half against Matlama.

However, Notši dismissed suggestions Kick4Life were doing title-chasing Matlama favours.

“I think Matlama wanted it more than us, you could see they started the game on a high note. People wanted to see if Kick4Life can spoil the party for them, we learnt and we take the experience,” he stated.

“I talked to my players after a disappointing first half and the second half they showed up but it was too late. We wanted to win the game; we were desperate for a win just like Matlama were. We don’t owe Matlama any favours.”

Notši revealed Kick4Life will be active in the transfer market in the off-season saying they are looking to challenge for the title next season.

“To be honest each department needs to be beefed up, we want to compete for the league title next season. There will be players promoted from our academy and a week before the preseason we will hold trials. It would be unfair to say who is going (to leave) right now, we still have to discuss that with the management,” Notši stated.

Also speaking at the briefing, Bullock said the ambitious club has made progress every season and their aim is to continue doing so next season.

“We have made progress every year; we got promoted, survived relegation and now we are in the top eight. Next season we are looking to continue making progress,” he said.

Bullock underlined that Kick4Life not only want to retain Notši, but their best players as well.

“I am happy with the coach, the results speak for themselves and yes we will be giving him a new contract as soon as everything is finalised. We want to keep him here,” he said.

“We want to keep the players happy so that they can stay with us. It’s true big teams will come sniffing around and when a player wants to leave there is nothing we can do, but we want to keep them here,” Bullock said.