Badela Encouraged By Early Signs After Winning PSL Debut With Durban City

Durban City coach Sinethemba Badela says he is encouraged by the early signs he is seeing from his team following his first-ever match in the PSL top flight win, a Betway Premiership clash against Polokwane City.

The former Mamelodi Sundowns DStv Challenge coach, who is already under scrutiny with technical director Ernst Middendorp closely monitoring his progress, admits that patience will be required, having been in the role for just over a month.

Badela’s debut was made memorable by Trevor Mokwena, who gave City the lead in the 19th minute to secure the coach’s first victory at the club and extend the team’s strong home record at Chatsworth Stadium.

The win lifted Durban City to sixth place on the Betway Premiership table with 26 points from 16 matches.

“I do see the signs, but it takes time,” Badela said after Sunday’s match.

“The players are willing to do it. We are playing well, but it is still in patches. We have to do it together and play with a little more control for longer periods.

“So far, I’m happy. I see a lot of good things at training, and those are the things I also saw in the game, especially in our attacking play.

“I thought we could have scored more goals, but we will improve. We will keep improving game by game, and the team will get better.”

Badela has also drawn attention for adopting a dress sense similar to that of Rulani Mokwena, whom he assisted at Wydad Casablanca last season in Morocco.

Even his animated tactical instructions from the dugout, often delivered using hand signals, were reminiscent of Mokwena’s touchline mannerisms.

Despite enjoying a historic day in his first top-flight match as a head coach, Badela stressed the need for collective improvement.

“We have to improve as a team because we are introducing a few things,” he said.

“We need to keep the ball better and improve in the final third. We created a lot of chances, especially in the first half, and were very dangerous from set-pieces.

“Even in the second half, we had a three-on-one situation. If we can improve our conversion rate, we will be a very difficult team to play against.”

Durban City will next travel to face Badela’s former club, Chippa United, at Buffalo City Stadium in East London on Sunday. Badela was dismissed by Chippa earlier this season after just two matches in charge.