The Bloemfontein Celtic shot-stopper spent three seasons with the Soweto giants before moving to the Free State province
Former Orlando Pirates goalkeeper Jackson Mabokgwane says an inconsistent policy of switching the number one role pushed him out of the Soweto giants.
After arriving at Pirates at the beginning of the 2016/17 season, Mabokgwane was met with competition from Brighton Mhlongo, Siyabonga Mpontshane and Equatorial Guinea international Filipe Ovono.
Then Wayne Sandilands was signed the following season in a move that stiffened competition for Mabokgwane.
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After managing just three Premier Soccer League (PSL) games last term while working under goalkeeper coach Andrew Sparkes who is now at Premier League side Southampton, Mabokgwane decided not to renew his Pirates contract.
“There was a lot of rotation, they were never really sure who was their number. Only this season they have decided that Sandilands is their number one but my whole three years at the club, we shared, there was just rotation going on the whole time,” Far Post quoted Mabokgwane as having told iDiski TV.
“At the time when I was there, there was no clear number one and that affected me because I wanted to play as the number one and to be consistent and to grow but with the quality that is there you cannot really blame the rotation system that happens because if a team has too much quality and you don’t play so well you will be dropped as somebody else is waiting and that’s what happened.
“So I cannot really blame anyone because if it meant I was supposed to play 100 percent performances each and every game for me to play 30 games then that’s what it was expected and if I didn’t achieve that, I couldn’t perform at a 100 percent every single match and then I was dropped, that’s unfortunate and I had to accept.
“If you keep clean sheets and win Man of the Match awards every game, then they won’t change you and unfortunately, I didn’t do that. When my contract ended, we sat and agreed to part ways.”
At Bloemfontein Celtic, he has Sipho Chaine and South Africa national Under-23 goalkeeper Mondli Mpoto to contend with for a starting place.
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He arrived at the Free State province side to find the two already there and has managed take over as the first-choice goalkeeper also thanks to the departure of Patrick Tignyemb.
The 32-year-old has managed to feature in 19 league games, keeping five clean sheets this season and declares that he still has unfinished business with the South Africa national team which he last played for in 2016.
“I am just looking forward to putting in the performances and go back to Bafana Bafana, complete my career by playing a few seasons overseas, I still have a long way to go, I’m just getting started,” said Mabokgwane.