Cape Town — Cape Town City rookie Taahir Goedeman is hoping to get another run out against TS Galaxy on Saturday.
Fresh from the Diski Challenge, the 21-year-old midfielder was thrown to the wolves last Saturday when he made his first Dstv Premiership start against champions Mamelodi Sundowns at the DHL Stadium.
But instead of being overawed by the occasion, Goedeman delivered a sound performance on debut and almost capped it with a goal only for the celebrations to be stalled by a fantastic diving save from Sundowns veteran keeper Denis Onyango.
City travel though to Limpopo this weekend for their meeting with TS Galaxy and another stern test potentially awaits Goedeman at the Mbombela Stadium.
"Hopefully I will get to keep my place but if not I will do whatever I need to for the team. I got a taste of what it’s like against the biggest team in the country," Goedeman said.
"I look forward to having more moments like that in order to keep improving my game and hopefully get a regular place in the team. Now I have to work even harder to make sure the coach feels he can trust me enough in any game.”
The clash against Galaxy is not only important for Goedeman, but equally for Eric Tinkler's entire team. After an entertaining MTN8 Cup run that climaxed with a penalty shootout defeat to Mamelodi Sundowns, City have not been able to find the same consistency in the league. The Citizens are currently in ninth place on the table with 13 points after 10 matches.
Considering the quality City have in their ranks, and the way they performed against Sundowns in both the MTN8 final and last week in the league, they should be much higher up.
Tinkler, in particular, was brought in to add much a steelier edge to the side in a bid for them to find greater resolve to grind out results in tough places such as Limpopo this weekend.
“It’s important for us as a team to perform again like we did last week against Sundowns," Goedeman said
"TS Galaxy are not a easy team to play against. The coach showed us some areas where we can hurt them but it’s all gonna be down to us to go out there and put in the work."
Meanwhile, TS Galaxy have enjoyed an upsurge fortunes recently after a horrid start to the season. The Rockets are still languishing in 14th place, but they have now won two of their last three matches, including last weekend's victory over Swallows FC.
“We have a game against City, a tough team, but again, against every team you play with in this league, the league has great quality," said Galaxy coach Sead Ramovic.
“Every team is not easy to play against. But we have to be at our best to have a chance to win against any opponent.”
IOL Sport