Swallows coach Dylan Kerr was full of praise for Thandani Ntshumayelo’s character after the former Orlando Pirates star made his long-awaited debut for the club in their 1-0 win over Sekhukhune United.
‘Bibo’ played his first minutes in the DStv Premiership victory on Saturday, replacing Sphesihle Mbhele in the 54th minute.
The former SuperSport United and Pirates player is on the comeback trail after sitting out of football following a two-year ban for drug use. An attempted come-back at Baroka in 2018/2019, saw him play just once. He joined Swallows last year.
Kerr said he made a bold call, when asked about the introduction of Ntshumayelo, and praised the 31-year-old’s attitude.
“Just for his attitude and the way he’s been looking after himself,” he replied to the club’s media officer’s question.
“In training every day, he comes and he runs about and he’s one of the players – I’ve often said to the players, if you’re not playing come and see me and ask and I’ll tell you why – Bibo comes every day ‘Coach, am I in the squad? Coach, am in the team? Coach, am I playing this weekend?’
“That’s what he does every, every single day. And it reminds me when I was at Leeds United, I was doing the same, but I had good players in front of me so I had to bide my time and wait.
“And I thought straightaway Fani (Madida) may have said, no Grant (Margeman) may be the better option, but what I’ve seen with Bibo in training, he is hungry, he is keen, he is eager, and he showed that today.
“Okay, his match fitness is not the same, at PSL level to what it has been in training, but, when he’s on the ball he is clever, and he did his job, which he was asked to do, which was replaced Kaka (Mbhele), keep the ball, keep pressing.
“And credit to everybody. I mean I know these bunch of boys, I know what they do every day in training. If we keep doing that, we’ll be fine.”
Kerr also insisted that Swallows are now looking ahead to two very tough fixtures in the league and Nedbank Cup.
“But, we’ve got a tough game to come against Royal AM and then we’ve got an even tougher game in the Nedbank because I want to get to the next stage, in the last eight, but the priority is to go to Royal AM, go down to Durban with a fit team.
“Again, I’m gonna have a problem picking this eleven, and the squad. Because now I’m getting to see the characters of players, now I’m going to see the ones that really want to be here and try and give the role for the club and we’ve seen players that maybe don’t.”
