Patel made his debut, along with Siyabonga Nomvethe, in a 4-1 win over Vasco da Gama on the weekend, the former Bidvest Wits striker having been on Chippa United’s books.
While he looked sluggish to start off with at the Princess Magogo Stadium, coach Barker pointed out that the big front man is short of match fitness, but believes he will become an asset to Usuthu.
“Patel knows that he’s off the match sharpness,” Barker told his club’s website.
“When you haven’t played for eight weeks you know it’s not easy. He had an assist on the fourth goal, and a couple of headers in the game.
“Obviously there’s still a lot of work to be done on his conditioning side of things, but I’m very positive and confident that within one or two home games from now he’ll be scoring goals and the supporters will be behind him.”
Barker will be hoping that Patel can strike up a similar ‘big man, small man’ partnership as to what he did with Amigo Memela last season at Cape Town All Stars, where Patel was utilized as the target-man around which the more mobile Memela flourished, the pair netting 24 goals between them and nearly taking their side to the play-offs.
Source: African News Agency (ANA)
