Ngalande hopeful of Wits breakthrough

Flames striker Robin Ngalande is confident of making a breakthrough into the BidVest first team in the second-half of the season despite the exit of coach Antonio Habas.

Ngalande struggled in the first-half of the season and only managed two appearances as a substitute; a four minute appearance against Kaizer Chiefs in the Telkom Knockout and a 48-minute second-half showcase in the league against AmaZulu.

His joining of Wits in August was influenced by Habas, who had worked with the player during his time at the Sundowns development side in 2010.

Habas has decide to terminate his contract with Wits on personal grounds and has since been replaced by veteran Clive Barker raising fears Ngalande’s stay at the club or chances of game may be limited.

“I do not think my chances will be reduced in the absence of Habas. Barker is one of the respected and professional coaches and I believe he is going to give every player an equal chance depending on their output. Of course, I will miss Habas because he really liked me and brought me to the PSL after I left Spain’s Atletico Madrid,” said Ngalande.

Ngalande, who returned to South Africa last week after the Christmas break, said he is not bitter for spending most of the time on the sidelines.

“I am still adjusting to the PSL. My papers also came out a but later after some six or seven games had already been played. I spent two years in Spain where the type of play is totally different from South Africa and in Spain it was purely youth football but this is the top flight league so there is a huge gap and I had to adjust.

“Wits also signed a lot of big name players last year so competition is tough but I will work hard to break through,” he said.

He also said he would like to make mark for the Flames this year by scoring his first goal for the senior national team.

He is yet to score in 10 Flames matches since making his debut against Chad in February last year.