Magesi FC head coach Owen da Gama has hailed the impact of Mamelodi Sundowns loanee Thabang Sibanyoni after the team's 1-1 draw with Orlando Pirates.
The Limpopo outfit managed to avoid the drop in their debut Betway Premiership season and the campaign with a point away to the Buccaneers on Wednesday evening.
Sibanyoni joined Magesi on loan in January, wit Da Gama giving the striker nothing but praise for his impact.
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“He is an unbelievable player; he is a target-man. You can play to his feet, you can flight aerial balls, there are a very few that can compete with him. He is a fantastic player, he is my type of striker, you know,” Da Gama told SuperSport TV.
“He can hold-up the ball, he can turn, he is a team-player you know. He is not those type of strikers that will turn and go and score ten goals but he is a team-player. We’ve been working on this even before we signed him, he’s been training with us.
“He was very, very unfit, so we managed to get the fitness right took him to another level with his fitness and then we were working on the combinations because there was no combinations.
“Magesi was a team that played on the low-block and they were just trying to go on the counter-attack with Makhubu. Unfortunately, we lost Makhubu to injury as well but Sibanyoni has been unbelievable. As I say, he is my type of striker,” he added.
When asked where Magesi can improve, he added, “Very good question, I think a little bit of quality. Not that there’s no quality, but in the PSL you’ve got to raise the bar. You got to know, I mean if Sundowns wants to sign new players who are we, we got to bring in some experience.
“A lot of the players come from the ABC, Diski Challenge so it was a costly exercise, very costly exercise this season. A lot of unnecessary mistakes with a little bit of experience – I think we can hold the ball more and control the tempo of the game. I think if we can get that right – I think we will be going to another level."
