This past weekend we went to Port Elizabeth for a friendly game against Bloemfontein Celtic, who I thought did not play to their true strengths. It was my first journey to Port Elizabeth and I was impressed by the laid back nature of the city and it’s people and going there for a few days was nice because we got time off from the hustle and bustle of Johannesburg.

The game against Celtic afforded us the opportunity to once again play around with selection and line up’s as we tried out different approaches and tactics. I must say that the commitment from the players even though the game was just a friendly was excellent and generally the work rate amongst the guys was good. We are beginning to develop our own style, which bodes well for us as we are not predictable and teams will need to think very hard in the near future if they wish to take points from us.

A few of the players were given the weekend of namely Gert Schalkwyk, Siphiwe Mkhonza and Rene Richards it was felt that because these players were involved with the PSL eleven over the Christmas break they needed some time off. Our training programme was changed on Monday and we had only one session because of the delays we experienced when returning from Port Elizabeth on Sunday.

We have had a colleague of David Obua’s by the name of Daniel Obuta on trial with us for the past ten day’s, he did play a couple of minutes in the game against Celtic and generally I have been happy with his commitment and the effort he has put in to fitting into the team. Daniel will see some more action this week and we will have a closer look at him when we play against Angolan team Petro Atletico in training game later this week. The players who were given off over the weekend will also in all likelihood feature in this game so that they can be match fit and keep up a high level of fitness.

On the injury front Thabo Mooki should return to training tomorrow, Emile Baron was given ten days off although he will be training in the gym doing mainly upper body training. This is because his foot has been placed in a removable cast as we try to have him back at training by the end of next week.

Jimmy Tau will be returning back from the African Nations Cup on Wednesday and we will be analysing, by trying to determine whether he needs any kind of special training to get him back on par with the rest of the team. We will also be sitting down and checking to see if he needs any other kind of assistance away from just assistance with his game, like trying to help him rebuild his confidence should he be in need of such help.

On Sunday we will be in action against Ajax in Cape Town as part of our continued preparation for the resumption of the PSL in just over two weeks time, a number of players who were not in action against Celtic or FC Moscow will be see some game time. The friendly matches have been a good yard -stick to measure our confidence and general pre preparedness for the league when it restarts.

I am happy to see that certain of the players the likes of Rowen Fernandez are beginning to find their form again, Rowen had an excellent game against FC Moscow and he kept it up with an equally impressive display against on Saturday. After he picked up an injury in August I think he needed a bit more time to have fully recovered, I feel he has turned the corner recently and he will continue to perform as well as he has till now.

At the back I feel we have ironed out some of the problems, which were previously dodging us, and we have found our form and shape, against Celtic we were firm in defense and did not allow any margin for error. It is always nice when a team begins to show signs of strength and unity and at the moment the guys are all working hard and our spirits are up.

If you are in Cape Town this Sunday make your way to Newlands for our friendly game against Ajax Cape Town, it should be an entertaining way to spend your Sunday afternoon.

Yours in love, life and Chiefs 4 Ever

Ernst Middendorp