Africa-Press – Lesotho. Linare head coach Leslie Notši says ‘Tse Tala’ are “a work in progress” following a pair of intense battles with Lesotho Correctional Service (LCS) and Matlama in last weekend’s Alliance Winter Challenge.
Linare took on the top-flight heavyweights in the pre-season tournament at Setsoto Stadium and made it to the final where they lost 1-0 to ‘Tse Putsoa’.
As ‘Tse Tala’ prepare for the new league campaign, they will be hoping to better their second-place finish from last season and win the championship for the first time since 1980. Notši said Linare now know where they stand in terms of readiness and where they need to improve ahead of the Vodacom Premier League season.
Of course, Linare can no longer look to the transfer market because the window has been shut, however, the month of September will provide them with enough time to sharpen themselves before the Vodacom Premiership season kicks off on October 7.
“I am happy with the players, I am proud of all of our players, everyone we gave an opportunity to play worked hard,” Notši said.
“We left (the Alliance Winter Challenge) having seen where our team is as Linare, and we are going forward.
“It was a tough tournament which is good,” Notši continued.
“We applaud Alliance Insurance for this tournament because these two games against LCS and Matlama were very tough and we are thankful.
The Alliance Winter Challenge was Linare’s second pre-season tournament in the space of a week after the Leribe giants returned from a two-day trip from Botswana.
Notši said the upcoming 2023/24 season will not be easy because teams have beefed up their squads. He said every team will be vying for the Vodacom Premier League title which currently resides in Mafeteng with Bantu.
“We are a work in progress, games like this will give us a picture of the areas we need to work to build,” Notši said.
“If you look at last season, we were scoring a lot but now it shows we need to sharpen up in front and start to score especially when it’s a cup competition where you just need goals. We tried for our approach to be more offensive and (the Alliance Winter Challenge) showed we need to fix up.”
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