It’s always going to be tough playing lower league sides: Clark

Black Leopards coach Alan Clark has given an update on his former senior Cavin Johnson’s health. Johnson suffered a heart attack a few weeks ago and was admitted to hospital with Clark saying the two have spoken and Johnson is back home and healthy.

Clark is not expecting Johnson to return to the club after he himself was appointed head coach of the side.

Leopards are preparing for their Nedbank Cup last 16 round clash against ABC Motsepe League side Amavarara FC in Thohoyandou on Friday night (20:00).

Amavarara defeated Super Eagles in the opening round while Leopards saw off North West University.

Clark says the competition is meant to boost minnows and allows them to be even overconfident. Clark adds that it will always be tough facing sides from lower leagues.

Clark emphasises that he is not going to prioritise one competition over the other referring to the league where Lidoda Duvha is struggling.

The coach further adds that he is not going to make changes to the squad for the sake of just giving fringe players a run. Clark wants to maintain some consistency in his selection to try and get regular positive results.

The former assistant coach also backed his midfielder Thabiso Mokoena who conceded a late own goal against Orlando Pirates in the league this past Sunday.

Clark says the player has everyone’s support in the team and there is nothing Mokoena could have done in that situation.

Clark also took a little dig at Pirates saying they are going on about a fluke goal like they planned it in training.

– Report by Lethabo Kganyago

“It’s been humorous to hear the opposition @orlandopirates carrying on how they won that game, it’s a fluke goal. Maybe an analyst can put it on Twitter how many times they scored that in training” @lidodaduvha ‘s Alan Clark on Mokoena’s OG on Sunday. @SABC_INFO_HUB @SPORTATSABC pic.twitter.com/gD3mUZx75A

— Rakgadi’a bana (@ngwanamogoto) February 19, 2020