Pirates coach plays down Gabadinho’s goal drought

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…says Mhango works very hard…

Orlando Pirates coach Josef Zinnbauer insists he is not worried about Gabadinho Mhango’s goal drought in the Absa Premiership.

The forward hasn’t been able to find the net in three consecutive games and his fellow golden boot chasers are now closing in on him as he is stuck on 14 goals.

However, his coach has come to his defence, saying that he is still very impressed with the striker despite his goal scoring drought.

Zinnbauer told the South African medi

a that he was happy with how Mhango was scoring goals but the most important thing was to focus on all the players who are also capable of scoring goals.

“I was happy with how Mhango was scoring goals but what is important is to focus on all the players.

“We have other players who can score. Gaba has his chance and there are still a lot of games where he can score and I hope he can score against Mamelodi Sundowns but we have others as well,” Zinnbauer was quoted by Soccer Laduma.

Zinnbauer also defended his decision to substitute Mhango, saying his team needed fresh legs on the pitch.

“He works hard and the supporters were applauding him when we took him out. We needed fresh players on the field and there were no bad words from the supporters. We have other players too like Tshegofatso Mabasa who is just behind him in terms of goals with six and it’s not bad when he come on the pitch. All these players need minutes on the field and its normal to change,” he told the South African media.

The former Nyasa Big Bullets, Bloemfontein Celtic and Bidvest Wits forward last scored for the Soweto giants against Chippa United.

He is competing heavily with Bradley Globler, Peter Shalulile and Bongi Ntuli for the golden boot award.

Mhango was voted Absa Premiership player of the month of January and his third strike against Polokwane City was voted Absa Premiership goal of the month of January.

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