Highbury look to redeem themselves against Lerumo Lions

Highbury coach Kabelo Siyiba says they have quickly moved on from their 3-0 loss to Casric Stars and will look to redeem themselves against Lerumo Lions at Dobsonville Stadium in Soweto on Saturday (3pm).

Despite the defeat, Sibiya said they learned hard lessons from the game and hope to improve in their next match.

The loss on Tuesday follows a 3-0 win against Leicesterford City at the NMU Madibaz Stadium last week.

Highbury remain seventh on the log, with 33 points from 26 matches.

“We learned some lessons from this game about how to defend well against long throws and even rest defence in the third goal,” Sibiya said.

“We’re looking forward to our next match, which is away against Lerumo Lions.

“We want to redeem ourselves quickly by winning the game and returning home with three points.

“We believe we have corrected the errors from the match, and we are looking forward to the game on Saturday.”

The last time Highbury and Lerumo met the Johannesburg side defeated the Yellow Nation 2-1 at the Madibaz Stadium.

Reflecting on their loss to the Casric side, Sibiya said the early goals dampened his players’ spirits, and despite their best efforts in the second half, they were unable to convert their chances.

“We started the game slowly and conceded before the fifth minute.

“Just after that, the opponents received a long throw that we were unable to handle. In the 35th minute, we conceded the third goal due to an opponent’s contact attack, which they capitalised on.

“We did not perform well in terms of rest defence.

“However, we came back and played better in the second half.

“We made changes at half time, which I believe helped them pick up the game, and we created some opportunities in the second half that we missed.

“But it was one of those games where things did not go our way. The mistakes that cost the goals also killed the confidence because we were away and already down two goals early in the match.

“The game plan was now a problem, and our confidence had dropped. We tried to pick it up, but it wasn’t easy.

“It’s one of those games you want to forget about quickly and move on to the next one.”