Kaizer Chiefs defender S’fiso Hlanti has backed under-pressure Ashley du Preez amid his latest goalscoring woes.
Du Preez has come under criticism in recent weeks after missing several big chances in his most recent games for Chiefs and Bafana Bafana.
The 25-year-old, who joined Amakhosi ahead of the season, has scored two goals in all competitions so far, one in the MTN8 and one in the DStv Premiership but his latest strike dates back to August.
However, Hlanti has come out and defended his teammate, saying he’s giving his all in every game and it is on them as colleagues to support him during this dry spell.
“It’s up to us, we have a key [role]. We are the ones who need to give him support and courage at all times,” Hlanti told journalists.
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“We know that in this game of football such things happen but it depends then on what is it that you want and which support you get from your colleagues. So the key factor and the key thing for us is the character, we support one another.
“And the things that we do here at training it shows the positive signs going forward because you could see that the games we’ve played, we play collectively as the team and we give support to everyone and the support that we getting from the technical team is amazing.”
The Amakhosi defender gave his view on how he sees du Preez in the team and what role he plays. Hlanti mentioned the fighting spirit of the former Stellies and how important it is to have him on the team.
“For me, I’ll be honest with you, he shows the positive signs and he fights from the beginning until the end,” he added.
“So we can’t point [at] him and say he is not doing the most and he’s not doing what he is capable of. It’s just a matter of time.”
