Embattled Maritzburg vow to fight until the end

Maritzburg United coach Fadlu Davids and his centre-back Alfred Ndengane have vowed they’ll fight until the bitter end, even though their battle to survive now looks like a losing battle.

Maritzburg found themselves bottom of the DStv Premiership. The Team of Choice shot themselves in the foot when they surrendered the lead twice to settle for a 2-all draw against fellow relegation candidates Marumo Gallants at home on Wednesday night. Davids’ troops take on Stellenbosch and Mamelodi Sundowns in their last two fixtures.

Brandon Theron put the Team of Choice in front in the 33rd minute before Marumo’s talisman Ranga Chivaviro levelled matters 28 minutes into the second half. Converting from the spot, Amadou Soukouna looked to have given the host the all-important winner in the 81st minute until Mpho Mvelase scored Marumo’s equaliser deep in stoppage time.  

Davids implied he was proud with how his troops fought to score two goals, even though he was disappointed at the manner in which they leaked the goals. The Maritzburg coach insisted they won’t throw in the towel. 

“We fought... to go twice ahead and not being able to keep it, we have the same way of conceding goals. Really, really soft [goals, they conceded]… I mean the first one, [it was] just a cross and we didn’t deal with the first ball and they scored from a rebound and of course in the last seconds of the game [they conceded the goal that made it 2-2],” Davids told SuperSport TV after the game.

“We’ve been having these moments a lot and we try to fix them and we won’t give up. We have two games left and we’ll push until the end. We can’t go into the next game with this disappointment. We have to lift our heads up.”

Ndengane echoed his mentor’s words: “It is sad, sad [that they surrendered the lead twice], but I am happy about the point because every point at this moment counts a lot. My boys fought, we fought really hard and we wanted to win the game but unfortunately we conceded at the last minute. We will keep on fighting up until the last game.”