De Sa a delighted man

Roger de Sa is in buoyant mood after a stunning 3-1 victory over Absa Premiership champions Orlando Pirates at the weekend.

So much so that the Wits coach, who also doubles up as the CEO of the club, believes this squad is the best he has worked with since taking over the Clever Boys.

De Sa is in his second stint at the club after returning four years ago.

Wits have had a good run in the Telkom Knockout, making it all the way to a home semifinal against Santos on Sunday.

Recent results prompted De Sa to say the future is bright for Wits.

"This is probably the best future side I have been involved with," he said. "The five-year plan we set up three years ago for our academy is starting to show up. And there are 10 or so youngsters already knocking on the door.

"In 1993 I was here and I think we had a good team with a lot of internationals. At one stage we had 11 of them and finished third in the league."

De Sa, a former keeper who got a single Bafana cap, said he had to push some youngsters to "step it up even though it might be premature".

Among these players are captain Sifiso Myeni and midfielder S'busiso Vilakazi, who have come from the development programme. Another is Tefu Mashamaite, who joined Kaizer Chiefs at the start of the season.

"We have tweaked [the academy plan] a bit and there are some kids that have come up sooner that we thought.

"We did push them quicker than we should have, and they were either going to swim or sink," said De Sa. "But fortunately for us they are swimming at the moment."

The Clever Boys are seventh in the Premier League, 10 points off the pace of log leaders Supersport United. Despite recent results, Wits could find themselves in the relegation dogfight halfway through the season.

"It's the kids you've got to watch," said De Sa, explaining why his team often became complacent after a great start to the season.

"The older guys like OJ [Mabizela] and Stanton [Fredericks] are professionals and know what football is about. I don't need to worry about them. But the youngsters need to be pulled back and you must tighten the grip a little bit sometimes," said De Sa.