Whether you are a fan of Vasco da Gama’s head coach, Andrew Pequeno – or not!
One cannot shy away from the fact that this successful coach has created a well organised and well-oiled Vasco machine that is slowly but surely on their way to the Hollywoodbets Third Division title.
This was again proven when the Pequeno side left it late to narrowly edge out a spirited but blunt Greenwood Athletic side in scorching heat at their Parow Park home venue on Thursday to extend their lead to six points over second placed Saxon Rovers.
It was indeed a dogged performance and one of a champion’s outfit indeed. Vasco has the ability to collect points consistently even though they are not at their best, an attribute which is lacking from their rivals.
Mind you, should the Fish & Chips boys see it through in their remaining 10 games, then Pequeno would have mustered a third league title after he won two Third Division trophies with his former Hanover Park FC back in 2021 and 2022 – with Matroosfontein winning the title in between in a shortened version of the league.
Pequeno was rather cagey about their title prospects but added with more potency on attack his side could easily have scored 50 goals already as opposed to their current 42 goals after 24 games.
This statistic indicates that Pequeno’s side averages just under two goals per game which is rather surprising for the log leaders seeing that six teams below them have scored more goals.
“That’s the story of our season and if we had a striker like Silver Spurs’ Rushan Abrahams then perhaps it would have been a different story with all the chances they created so far thus.” Pequeno told No Bones with Jones.
“But look at the end of the day the cloth that you are given, you got to cut man. I have boys that work hard and we have guys that can finish. Today we scored a very good goal the way we worked it. We go to Woodlands on Sunday and it will be another tough one so my boys will have to recover.
“Some of the guys are fasting so it is difficult. So, Woodlands away and we’ll give it our all. We are getting to a stage of the season where you just have to look after yourself as a team and just get the points and results as you can’t rely on others,” the Vasco boss added.
Meanwhile coach Patrick Weels’s Matroosfontein stunned Seaside Spurs by 5-3 in Ocean View despite an Ashley Wyngaard hatrick for the home side.
Matroos is mounting a late surge and trailing Vasco by eight points with 10 games remaining – whether it is too little too late for teams chasing Vasco, only time will as Vasco’s consistency is what separates them from the rest of the pack.
