Pierre FC Hout Bay head coach Pierre Summers was always going to be in for a bumpy ride with his new Hollywoodbest Third Division outfit.
The coastal side could only manage to bag one point of a possible six following its doubleheader over the weekend against Greenwood Athletic (2-2) on Friday and Camps Bay FC (0-2) the Sunday – leaving them still languishing in the second last position with 11 points from 14 matches.
Summers has taken over the reins following the departure of his predecessor Tom Tobi last week. The former Ashford Athletic man says he is under no illusion of the task that awaits him.
“Considering that I had one session, last week (Thursday) and going straight into the doubleheader, we always knew it was going to be difficult,” Summers told No Bones with Jones. “But one of the positive things we can take away from the weekend is that we created chances and we could have gone ahead.
“It is simple things, things that can be worked on, you know. It is not like we say it’s done and dusted and we can’t do anything about it, it is things we can improve. Trust the process and believe in it.”
Summers’ challenges do not get any easier with an away trip to the second-placed Cape Town City at Malta Park on Saturday with a 16-point gap separating the sides.
“It is genuinely a baptism of fire hey,” Summers jokingly added. “Look, like I mentioned to you we are optimistic but we are also realistic and will take it one game at a time.
“The positive thing for me is that I can see City before we play as they are playing Greenwood Tuesday (6th) so I can go watch a bit of the game. Am I saying we are going to cause an upset? But what I am going to say is that we will give 100 percent for every game.”
Summers will draw comfort from the fact that it is still the first round and there should be ample time for him to turn things around.
Furthermore, the new coach was pleased with the fighting spirit and character shown by his troops to crawl their way back twice against Greenwood to salvage a valuable point.
“The players realize the situation and are putting their hands up,” he explained. “They’ve made it clear that we are not throwing in the towel and it is still early days. Anything can happen and we are not down and out. Yes, there are going to be hiccups. Yes, there are going to be hurdles…it’s how you bounce back.
“The encouraging thing is that we have players with the right attitude. Look it can only improve as this will be my first full training session with the guys. Will there be a surprise this coming weekend, who knows? With the right mindset and attitude anything can happen – it is 11 versus 11,” he concluded.
