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Cape Town - Bloemfontein Celtic forward Lerato Lamola has attributed his relative success this season to hard work and developing a better understanding of what is required from him on the football field.
Read: Celtic to remain consistent
During his debut season at Bloemfontein Celtic, Lamola could only muster four goals during the season, despite making 24 league appearances for the club. However, his circumstances have since changed and he has already breached opposition defences three times this season.
"I think it has all been about hard work. I had to put in hard work at training and through to the game," Lamola told Football411.
He has also made a concerted effort to bridge the communication gap between himself and the coach and he feels that this is starting to yield positive results for the club.
"I also had more determination to understand the coach better than I used to because it was my first time working with him. This year, it was more like having a better idea of what he wants from me," added Lamola.
Celtic did not enjoy the ideal start to this year’s campaign but there has definitely been a reversal of fortunes during the last five matches. However, there is still pressure on the entire squad to build on the current momentum and Lamola acknowledges that he will be expected to shoulder a considerable amount of the pressure under these circumstances.
"The expectations from me are definitely higher because the guys are always looking at the strike force. Because I have been banging in some goals for the team, surely they are looking at me to score more goals," said Lamola.
However, he did make a point of reminding the football fraternity that this was ultimately a team sport, adding that everybody in the squad had a significant role to play during this campaign.
"I feel like we as the strike force can do it but we can’t do it alone. We have to work together with the rest of the team so that we can achieve the result that we want at the end of the day.
"I don’t really see myself assuming a leadership role. Like I said, we are a team and we all become the leaders when we are playing. As a strike force and as a midfield, everybody must take part in leadership," added the Celtic marksman.
Celtic did not enjoy much success in cup competition earlier this season and there is the argument that those premature departures have helped the team re-align the focus and attempt to reignite the league campaign.
Lamola said that it was quite possible that the departures from the MTN8 and Telkom Knockout competitions have been a blessing in disguise, even though it was also a disappointment.
"I can say that we kind of switched off at the start of the season, although our technical staff and the coaches did everything they could. We kind of lost it when it comes to switching on. Again, bad luck also contributed. In football you need luck," he said,
"That said, our own mistakes killed us at the end of the day. Maybe it was a bit lucky that we were knocked out, so that we can concentrate on the league. Who knows, maybe we would have been fighting for relegation if we were still playing in those cup games.
"Fatigue does play a part in football. I think it was also maybe a bit of a wake-up call for us."
