Highbury’s primary objective is to qualify for the Betway Premiership promotional playoffs this season, but head coach Kabelo Sibiya says the club will still be giving it their all in the Nedbank Cup.
The Yellow Nation face PSL side Sekhukhune United in the Nedbank Cup last 32 at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Saturday (3pm).
The Gqeberha side beat Kruger United 3-1 in the preliminary stage to book themselves a spot in the last 32 of the competition.
Highbury played to a 1-1 draw against Upington City in their last Motsepe Foundation Championship at the NMU Madibaz Stadium at the weekend.
The draw was the team’s second consecutive stalemate in the league, following their goalless draw against Baroka.
They are now 11th on the log with 20 points from 17 matches.
“We will take the positives out of the match; we are looking forward to our game in the Nedbank Cup against Sekhukhune on Saturday,” Sibiya said.
“We understand that we need to win football matches in the league, where our bread is buttered, but we will give our best in the Nedbank Cup against Sekhukhune.”
Reflecting on their match against Upington, the coach said his troops once again failed to convert their chances.
He said, despite the red card they suffered in the second half, his players did well to manage the game.
“We started the game well. We scored early, we were in control of the match, and we played like a home team. We were very dominant and created chances, but once again, we missed some of the dangerous chances that we created.
“However, we were happy to have scored early and were going into halftime leading the match. We came back in the second half, and we still controlled the game, but the opponents put more offensive players into the mix.
“We dealt with that, and we controlled the defensive part better in this game. We were unfortunate to get the red card in the 79th minute.
“I believe we could have done better, honestly. The opponents equalised through a free kick. We still played better even though we were one man down; we created chances but missed. We seemed to be lulled by luck for now.
“But we won’t stop working.”
The Herald
