As Relebohile Mofokeng turns 20 on Wednesday October 23, Orlando Pirates have unleashed another teenager in Mohau Nkota.
The 19-year-old has been promoted to the senior team this season and made his first start for Jose Riveiro’s team in Tuesday’s 2-0 victory over SuperSport United.
Nkota played 65 minutes and should have left the pitch with a goal to his name had he shown good composure and taken his chances.
However, the performance of the right winger left fans delighted and they will be hoping that he follows in the footsteps of Mofokeng and become a regular.
Mohau Nkota’s football journey
Nkota’s football journey began in Kimberly, where he turned out for a number of local clubs before he was drafted in Orlando Pirates’ youth setup.
His eye-catching performances in the DStv Diski Challenge made him one of the league’s standout players and it was not long before he was promoted to the senior team.
How many senior team matches has he played?
Nkota was named on the bench for Pirates’ 3-0 win over Polokwane City in the PSL before he made his senior team debut against Richards Bay on September 29 when he came on as a substitute, playing 13 minutes.
He went under the radar then but there was no escaping the spotlight this week when he came on at halftime to replace Monnapule Saleng in Pirates’ match against Magesi.
Pirates were trailing 3-0 but his performance in the second half was crucial to their two goals and even though they still lost the match, he had made his mark.
That performance impressed his coach Riveiro who threw him into the deep end on Tuesday, handing him his first senior start against Matsatsantsa.
Bright PSL start
Nkota got 65 minutes on his first start, which should have yielded at least one goal. He had an attempt from just outside the box which went over the bar in the 12th minute.
After 32 minutes, he tried an audacious chip over the goalkeeper, as he quickly tried to catch Ricardo Goss off his line, and he should have found the target on 53 minutes after a neat exchange of passes between Mofokeng and Patrick Maswanganyi saw the latter’s back pass find him in space.
What has been said about him?
His coach Riveiro was full of praise after his senior team start but warned him against expecting an easy ride given the kind of competition he is up against.
“It is just the beginning for him, he needs to understand that this is just one game,” Riveiro told SuperSport TV.
“He needs to improve a lot of things still, but he played 65 minutes where he showed his personality and that is what matters for me with accuracies and some mistakes but it is just the beginning for him.
“He needs to work hard because in professional football, nothing comes for free.”
