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SIMANGA WANTED TO BE LOANED OUT - ‘KOKI’

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MBABANE – For the faith his coach Thabo ‘Koki’ Vilakati had in him, he is still with Mbabane Swallows.


That is the red and white outfit’s former Midas Mbabane City striker Simanga Shongwe. He was the hero over the weekend in Zambia, coming off the bench to score an all-important away and equalising goal for Umkhonto KaShaka.


He struck in the 79th minute against Zesco United to give his team a credible point in the opening Total CAF Champions League Group D game last Saturday.


“At some point he came to me and asked that I have him loaned out to another team to boost his confidence, but I told him no. I told him confidence was something we can work on together in the team as I understood the gap between City and Swallows,” Vilakati revealed yesterday.


He said at City, he played as many games because of depth issues, so at Swallows he did not get the same game time as they have depth.
“All my three strikers play a different game. Simanga is not the type that wants the ball played to his feet. He likes checking into space, while Sandile can play it on his feet and also check into space. I am his coach and he has my full support,” he said.


Questioned on how it felt when the player scored from the bench when the previous week his own club fans had appeared to jeer him at Somhlolo National Stadium when they beat Malanti Chiefs in the MTN League, Vilakati said he was ‘not surprised’.


“One would have expected I’d start him but I only introduced him later to protect him just in case we got chances and didn’t miss. Before he went on, I told him ‘Go and play your game, the pressure is not on you’ even though we were trailing,” he explained.
He also said for them, it was about wrapping up the game and getting something out of it.
“Simanga went in, played well and scored our goal,” he said.

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