Returning Golden Arrows coach Steve Komphela has disclosed the encouraging message he communicated to his players ahead of ending their 11 game losing run with a late 1-0 win over Polokwane City on Sunday. 

Nduduzo Sibiya, reduced to the bench during Mabhudi Khenyeza’s tenure, scored the 85th minute winner at the Old Peter Mokaba Stadium. 

The win was Arrows first since October 2023, ending a run 10 straight losses. 

The victory also moved Abafana Bes’thende to the top 8, one point ahead of TS Galaxy who have two games in hand.

Komphela revealed the speech he passed on to the team ahead of the game. 

“Don’t focus on the negative. We didn’t even look at what had been happening. In fact, the clip we played for them before we left the meeting room was about pain and growth. 

“We were saying, what is the cost of a cup of coffee? The cost of a Cup of coffee is about R30, which is the price you pay for a Cup of coffee. But what do you pay for growth? Pain is the cost of growth.”  

“So the pain they have gone through. No team in the Premier League has grown like this team because of the pain they went through. So sometimes we tend to not want to pay the price and as a result, we can’t get the commodity. But the commodity is the success, the cost for success is pain.” 

“So you could as well go through that pain so that you get your success and that was the theme of our discussion and then they embraced the theme. Embraced the pain and said you know what we have grown and we are better people than who we are,” Komphela said to journalists.  

Komphela also praised Mabhudi Khenyeza and Musa Bilankulu for laying the ground work in the win over Rise and Shine. 

Khenyeza had been head coach before he was demoted last week. Bilankulu has been part of the technical team since the beginning of the season. 

“We learn more from defeat than a victory, if we had lost this match here we would be leaving here having seen a lot of things that we are supposed to correct. But now it’s going to come down and look like everything is okay. The credit must be given to Mabhuti Khenyeza and Musa Bilankulu, they did the work. 

“You can’t do anything in two days, expect just to be there, maybe ease the pressure and then try to add a bit of influence in terms of energy. Look like you are relaxed, you are cold on the face but deep down your heart is burning and on fire. It’s part of life,” noted Komphela.

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