It is expected that big-time Charlie’s not only show up when the going is good, but also when the chips are down.
And that is exactly what the former pro player Devon Saal did to rescue his Vasco da Gama team from a first defeat of the season during a 3-2 win against a spirited Matroosfontein at Parow Park on Tuesday evening.
Saal played from the bench early in the second half with the score 2-1 in the favour of the visitors. The former Maritzburg United winger needed only 10 minutes to restore parity for the home side when he slotted home from inside the box.
The celebrations had not yet died down after Saal’s equalizer when the diminutive figure struck again beating the goalie in a one-on-one to give Vasco the lead for the first time in the match which sent the home fans into raptures.
Saal pointed out that he could not have done it without the help of his teammates.
“You know what they say, there is no ‘I’ in team and my success belongs to my teammates as well,” Saal told No Bones with Jones. “But it felt great to add value with my goals and to help the team to another three points,” he added.
This victory extended Vasco’s unbeaten run in the Hollywoodbets Third Division campaign to 15 matches which include nine wins and 6 draws.
Needless to say, this is also a new record for Vasco’s astute and experienced coach Andrew Pequeno, who broke his own record he held with his former Hanover Park FC outfit a couple of seasons ago.
This victory not only revealed the character of Pequeno’s team, but also reminded their rivals that they are not going to relinquish their perfect record that easily.
Pequeno deserves all the praise and accolades coming his way, and had this been the English Premier League, the Vasco mentor would have won the manager of the month title for three months on the trot.
How he strategically assembled his squad, the balance between the ‘unders’, over and the experienced campaigners, is not an equilibrium that’s easy to strike – but Pequeno seemed to have mastered it with great aplomb even when he completely changed his starting XI to refresh and rotate his squad.
“We lost our centre back after five minutes with a big gash to his head so he needed stitches,” Pequeno explained. “And then my centre back who has been on the bench for six games in a row, comes up and he was man of the match. My message to the guys is that when it is their turn they need to step up and make it difficult for that player when he comes back.”
Pequeno, who is usually a calm and collected figure on the touchline, was jumping for joy and could not hide his emotions.
The Vasco mentor explained: “My reaction was more the fact that the boys showed the fight and character than the reaction of just being happy. I said to the guys after the game it is a win that will define us going forward.
“They (Matroos) are tough, my friend, and I can honestly say that was our toughest game of the season. They are a very good team, very good youngsters and experience in the right places. They are not on the log where they are without being a good team,” Pequeno concluded.
