How’s this for a scenario… three years ago Greenwood Athletic qualified for the prestigious Bayhill Premier Cup by virtue of a default and ended up winning the Loser’s Section at the Easter tournament for the first time in the club’s history.
Last year head coach Warren Lotters assisted by his younger brother Chadwin managed to overcome the gruesome playoff campaign and qualified for the finals at the Erica Park in Belhar – and against all odds defended their title which they won the previous campaign.
This year, the Retreat-based outfit – under the guidance of a ‘new’ head coach in Chadwin – surprisingly fell short during the final round of qualifications at the expense of Rebels FC and Hanover Park which left them shattered as the chance of a hat trick of titles went begging.
Alas! Greenwood’s woes were overturned when they received confirmation from the organisers that they had been granted a spot amongst the big boys following Chippa United’s withdrawal.
Chadwin, who will be making his debut as head coach at the tournament, hinted that he is not sure if this is a premature sign of the soccer gods smiling on them, but stated there is “no pressure” at all in search of success for the third time in a row.
According to the 33-year youth coach, who holds a Caf D-licence, their luck does come with challenges of its own.
“Obviously it is a bit difficult because two players joined the Safa Cape Town Academy after we were knocked out of the playoffs,” Chadwin explained to No Bones with Jones. “But I think the team that we are putting together for the tournament should be good enough to compete and I am expecting that we will give a good account of ourselves at the tournament. That said, our technical team remains the same and we will give our best,” he added.
Despite being an amateur outfit from the ghetto, The Green Machine will undoubtedly be one of the most prominent teams in terms of their partisan support.
Hence Chadwin acknowledged that they were extremely disappointed when they did not make the initial cut.
“This is another lifeline for the boys that have worked extremely hard through the qualifiers without reward,” Chadwin further stated. “We have some talented (individual) players that will relish this opportunity to showcase their skills against the very best.
“We as a club and especially me as the coach, are just grateful to get another opportunity. Therefore, we are putting in the work and trying to get in as much training sessions and as much friendlies to get the fitness up because the preparation would have been better, but I think it is still not too bad given the circumstances,” Chadwin concluded
Greenwood would really want to cash in on their good fortunes after being drawn in group C along with Hanover Park FC, Rygersdal FC and Porto FC. This group, on face value, looks like one of the easier groups of the tournament – dare I say it!
