Black Leopards: Much promise, little achieved
Leopards: Much promise, little achieved
Posted: 2010-05-03 12:56
Black Leopards coach Vladislav Heric considers himself a ‘defeated man’ following the end of a season that promised so much, but eventually saw the Serbian finish with absolutely nothing as Lidoda Duvha remain stuck in the First Division.
The season officially came to an end for the Leopards on Sunday after they dominated their last 16 match against Mamelodi Sundowns, only to finish as losers.
Leopards suffered the agony of failing to gain promotion to the PSL after throwing away two bites of the cherry that they got in contesting the Promotional Play-offs.
"I feel defeated as a coach about the way things have gone this season," Heric tells KickOff.com.
"Though nothing came out of this season by way of us gaining promotion - which is what is making me feel defeated - I still believe that there is still a lot to achieve for the future.
"I know we didn’t qualify into the PSL but injuries played a key role in us failing to achieve that goal of promotion. I did my best as a coach under those conditions but it didn’t work out in the end.
"I remember going to the game in Witbank (against Mpumalanga Black Aces) with just one striker and when the situation called for changes I was forced to throw in a youngster who had just returned from injury," says Heric.
But on Sunday, despite losing to Sundowns, there were a lot of positives about the way Leopards played as they matched and even outplayed their more fancied opponents on many occasions.
"I think this game was at the level of the PSL. My boys proved that they have the PSL standards in them and I feel we were just unfortunate to have lost to a long range effort which is what makes the character of a big team when the situation calls for it," says the Serbian.
With season over, Heric will now be faced with the reality of drawing up another plan in the quest to gaining promotion next season but that will a stern challenge as several players are likely to be enticed away by PSL teams.
Already Lethola Mofokeng has sealed a move to Black Aces while Robert Ng’ambi and Walter Ramulondi could also to that route.
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