Decline of the ‘fragile’ Birds continues
ALEXANDRA – Bluebirds continue their poor form as they get clobbered by UJ Ladies.
The serious decline of the Bluebirds Ladies continues unabated in the Sasol Women’s League and their coach believes ‘they are fragile and need to be nursed back to form’.
Alexandra’s dream team in women’s football suffered another defeat, this time at the hands of the University of Johannesburg (UJ) Ladies who they went down to 4–1 over the weekend.
This comes after a serious tongue-lashing from the Beautiful Birds coach Malvin Khumalo following a string of losses, some at the hands of teams they were expected to have hammered by an astronomical margin.
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After losing 3–0 to Springs Home Sweepers away two weeks ago, Khumalo told his girls to either ‘shape up or ship out’.
Much of the problems of Banyana ba Malvin (Malvin’s Girls) seems to be a lack of discipline and commitment to the team, as most of them hardly show up for training sessions, and even skip games because they pick and choose those they want to play.
This forces Khumalo to field players who have not trained or those who are not fit and he even has to dip into the junior teams. Khumalo said it was ill-discipline that led to a serious decline in form of the team. “Unless we can work together and commit to the team, we’ll not be able to reap good results anytime soon.”
So far, the Beautiful Birds have lost to UJ and Springs Home Sweepers, Tuks 2–1 and TUT 5–0, sending the team plummeting from 3rd position on the log to a disappointing 9th or 10th, with 13 points from nine games in a 16-team league.
Their next match is what has been described as an insurmountable tie against Thembisa’s Palace Super Falcons, who are at the summit of the log and are one of the powerhouses of women’s football in the country, along with Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies.
But Khumalo believes the team has the ability to beat Falcons on 3 June, especially because the fixture is at home. “We’ll keep on fighting until we turn the corner,” he said. “Against Falcons, all I can promise is that we’ll fight for our pride.
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“If we could hold off the mighty Brazilian Ladies, what will stop us from doing the same against Falcons – or even go a step further and beat them,” he said.
But all the talk from the coach is dependent on the mental state of his players on the day and whether they believe they can do it this time around, after a string of bad results.
“My players are currently mentally fragile and I need to nurse them back to normal. I have given them the tongue-lashing and now it’s time to heal the broken morale,” Khumalo said.
