Godlwana hopes to deliver a miracle to save Ma-Indies

A hard-fought 1-1 draw with Copperbelt at the Giyani Stadium on Sunday was insufficient to move one of Limpopo's oldest women's teams off the bottom of the standings, with only seven and four points.

Even with only six games left in 2023, Godlwana is optimistic, especially because two of those matches are against the 15th-placed Thunderbirds and Coal City Wizards in 14. 

"In football, it's never over till it's over. Mathematically I still have the two guys that are close to me. If I clear those guys, it means I get closer to them", he told SABC Sport.

"When you beat a guy who's far up [on the log] and the guy above you doesn't get beaten, it's not really helping much. If we can get good results in the Eastern Cape [Thunderbirds] then us and them will be playing until the very last game," he said.

Ma-Indies registered a point at the beginning of April when they beat Thunderbirds 1-0 at home. But it’s been a downward spiral ever since, losing all 15 matches. Godlwana believes the weekend’s draw merits celebration.

"I'm sure good teams don't celebrate a point, but right now we feel like celebrating it. The last match [against First Touch] was very painful because we had hoped to collect our first points in that match and collect three today. 

"On the last match in the 93rd minute, a very notorious goal, but it's football and we accepted it, so today at least we got that point. Remember I said we need to have that psychological shift, if I collect points, I'll achieve that psychological shift. Then in the next match, it's fireworks." 

The engineer, who relocated from the Eastern Cape to Limpopo in 2007, joined Ma-Indies from Kanatla Ladies in the Sasol provincial League. A club he formed and has led for over a decade. 

"Ma-Indies is an old lady in the province, it's big sister to most of the teams. Most of the girls are in football because of teams like Ma-Indies. The club has really done a lot over the years, and we really appreciate them. And for me, it's really an honour to be called by them to say 'Coach, we need help'.

"They know of my passion for women's football in the province. If you call me to assist in women's football I can never say 'no'."