The former Premier League outfit has been forced into a rebuilding exercise after losing nearly its entire squad from last season, leaving Tebele to assemble a largely inexperienced team drawn from development structures and the lower divisions. However, while the rebuilding process presents an uphill battle, the coach believes his youthful charges can grow into a competitive outfit capable of challenging for a place among the league's leading teams. Toronto's new-look squad endured a baptism of fire on Saturday, suffering a 3-0 defeat to Dinare FC at Buffalo Park in Ramotswa. The hosts struck inside the opening minute through debutant Thabiso Boti before two late goals condemned Notwane to a disappointing start to the campaign.
Despite the result, Tebele maintained that his side had prepared adequately for the encounter, but costly mistakes and inexperience ultimately proved their undoing. "The way we prepared, we implemented our plan. It is only that my players, some of them are inexperienced in terms of playing in First Division. They are from the lower leagues, but they will keep gelling as time goes on," he said. "Those mistakes that we made, cost us goals, they punished us. I'm hoping that it's the first game, we are learning, going forward we rectify the mistakes."
