BY: Media Officer Foday Jatta

Estonian and Real de Banjul’s head coach Vjatšeslav Zahovaiko says he’s happy for his boys and winning the first three points as Real de Banjul began its 2022/23 GFF League Division One season with a 4-1 thumping victory over the Gambia Armed Forces (GAF).

The City Boys went behind to a first-half lead before a second-half brilliant display with a brace each from forward Salifu Colley and striker Abdoulie Baldeh was enough to turn the game on Real’s favor.

“I am happy for the boys that we won the first three points, it’s very important that we start well. I felt a little bit of tension because we trained for three months and the boys wanted to succeed,” Zahovaiko said.

He added: “In the first half, we struggled a lot but after the halftime team talk, we came back with a good attitude. Congratulations to everyone”. He said it was very “nice goals (scored by by Colley and Baldeh) because, in the first half, we only had two shots on the goal, not much so two is not enough. So, that was the message that we have to score more and as quickly as possible and it happened in the second minute of the second half. I like that we have nice combination play and really fast arrival in front of the goal with or touch finishing. I’m happy for the boys.”

Zahovaiko who’s commonly known as Slava, hailed the team spirit of his side saying: “It’s not easy to come back when you are one zero down. So I think we have a good spirit in the team, and what I like about the boys is that they hate to lose, I think that’s the most important thing. They (GAF) had a lucky goal, I’m not sure if it’s a goal or not but we have to trust the linesman”.

Slava notes that he wasn’t lucky for the red card on the GAF goalkeeper but agreed it makes it easy to play against a team with a man down. “I cannot say that it’s a lucky red card for us because we try to play more directly behind the line and with the first ball we succeeded, the goalkeeper committed the mistake and when a team (the opponent) is one man down it’s easier to play, but I can say that the opponent fought still so it wasn’t an easy game for us”.

The new Real de Banjul gaffer outlined the targets for him and his team for the new league season saying that it is: “to win the league and to help the players to reach the next (professional) level and help the club to have a good and solid training system. That’s my target!”

Abdoulie Baldeh, who scored a brace on the evening, said he was happy to score in the first game of the season and he felt it was deserved after the preparation they’ve been through.

Baldeh said: “Last season, I was injured throughout the first season. So I am very happy that I could start the season with the team and score twice in the first game”.

Asked about his brilliant back heel goal, the Gambia U20 striker said: “I have been working very hard in training and scoring from the first post is my strength. I saw the keeper running to cover the first post and I know I cannot use my right foot so I just turn around with a back heel, but this a type of goal I score in training so I knew what I was doing”.

Gambia U20 midfielder Alieu Gibba added that: “It’s a new season and we have a new coach, Slava, who came from Estonia to come and help us develop and achieve as players. This victory is for him because we were playing for him. He told us at halftime that this is his first game and losing it will be disappointing. So, we felt that we cannot afford to let him down, so we forth for him and will continue to fight for him. We are happy for him and congratulate all his staff who have been helping him and the Real de Banjul management who are always behind us. We are very happy that we start the season with a very important win”.

Next for Slava and his charges is a home fixture against newly promoted Greater Tomorrow FC with the game taking place at the Live Your Dream Sports Academy on Saturday, the 14th of January 2023.