I was unable to enjoy our emphatic victory over Maritzburg United this past Sunday in the manner that I would have liked to, as I was suffering with a cold all weekend long and it really sucker punched me.

I am sure many of you who were at the game must have noticed that I was not my usual self up and down the touchline, as a lot of my energy had been drained from me due to the illness. So after the game I headed back home and caught up on some much needed rest, I stayed at home on Monday as well as my assistant Frank Eulberg took the team through their paces Monday morning.

Presently I am sufficiently rested and recovered as we get ready for another important match ahead of us on Wednesday evening against Santos; therefore I would not like to dwell too much on the game against Maritzburg.

Our over all performance against Maritzburg was one that as a coach I am really proud of, I thought that the guys played at a standard that we should be playing at in each and every game.

Despite going a goal down, I might add to a well-struck goal by Sandile Ndlovu who once again with his performance on Sunday showed that he definitely has star quality, the guys came back and immediately struck back.

Over all on Sunday, what we did was make our chances at goal count the first time, we were not wasteful in front of goal and really punished the opposition. Players such as Siyabonga Nkosi were setting up attacks and along with Ditheko Mototo and David Obua really made Maritzburg work over time on the wings.

We were able to get the right kinds of balls into the danger zone, and Kaizer Junior in particular was in the right place at the right time, his strength lies in finishing off inside the six yard box and he did it with great precision and wasted no time in completing his hat trick.

Special thanks must be given to him for being able to get into the right kind of spaces in the opposition six yard area and although all his goals were close range finishes, he had to work hard to win the ball from opposition defender before sending the ball across the line.

Santos:

What we need to understand and realize is that Santos are a completely different entity to Maritzburg United. Even though they might have lost recently to Pirates, Moroka Swallows and drawn with Amazulu, they still are a team that needs to be given special attention and respect.

They showed their fighting abilities when coming from three goals down against Pirates to almost staging an amazing come back. Santos we really unfortunate not to have gotten at least a point out of their game with Pirates, as they came close to scoring on a number of occasions towards the end of the game.

If Santos' recent Telkom Cup semifinal match against Silver Stars where they lost 4-3, is an indication of their ability then we really do need to be prepared for a tough night at Vodacom Loftus.

Musa Otieno was on the score sheet against Silver Stars and has demonstrated that he is a very tricky customer both in attack, especially from set pieces, and with close to three hundred PSL game he is also an experienced defender.

Roger Da Sa’s team also have a number of youngsters who have been particularly impressive this season. In this category the likes of twenty-year-old midfielder Ervin Isaacs and the young striking force of Dipsey Solelwane and Eleazar Rodgers, spring to mind.

The trio have fared well with the tasks given to them by Roger Da Sa and thrown into the Santos midfield along with Isaacs are the likes of Jonathan Armogam, Marwaan Bantam and the Thembile Kanono all of whom have show in the past that they can find the back of the net from the midfield.

Team News:

As we get ready to face Santos on Wednesday evening, I must admit that after a long time we are in a fortunate position of not having to have to make changes to the team, because of injury and suspensions. Instead we should have very much the same look that we had in our recent games against Amazulu, Pirates and Maritzburg United, and with the way the team has been playing I do not feel there is much reason to need to alter things.

There is a healthy competition for places amongst the guys and it really has not made my life easier, but it is a problem I would rather have as the jostle for places becomes more and more competitive. A recent example of which was the kind of form being shown by Louis Agyemang, which had brought him to the brink of reclaiming a place in the 18-man match day squad.

Unfortunately for him Serge Djiehoua, who has really been fighting to get back into the squad, pipped him on Saturday morning and he got the nod instead of Louis. Serge made the most of his opportunity by getting some game time on Sunday, as he scored with his first touch of the game. This is really an indication that at this stage we have a fully fit squad.

To end off I would like to add that Wednesday evening's game is very important for us as we would like to end the year off and a winning note. Victory over Santos will really leave us in the kind of position in the league that could really help us mount a strong challenge for the title.

Our aim entering the last few games of the year has been to cut down the lead of the teams who are ahead of us, and thankfully we have achieved that somewhat. Now the challenge is to further close the gap going into the year, so when we return in 2007, we do so knowing that we are still in the title race.

Ending the year with a win will be more than welcome.