Coach Masutha hopes Mpengesi gives him more time to prove himself

AFTER bagging only two points from three matches, Chippa United coach Joel Masutha has handed his fate with the club over to chairman Siviwe “Chippa” Mpengesi.

Masutha is aware that he’s done little to steer the Chilli Boys’ ship out of the relegation quagmire, as they are still rooted in the bottom half of the log standings.

Add to the fact that his predecessors this season, Dan Malesela and Eric Tinkler were also shown the door following a string of poor results.

“That’s not in my hands, so I can give you Chippa Mpengesi’s numbers, then you ask that question,” Masutha said when asked whether he’ll last until the end of the season after suffering a 2-0 loss to Bidvest Wits on Friday.

Moreover, the Chilli Boys’ performance against Wits didn’t represent that of a team looking to get off the bottom of the table. They were caught napping, while panicking in defence. Wits punished the Chilli Boys courtesy of schoolboy errors, as they scored from a penalty and a set-piece. However, one could argue that the only person who can revive Chippa’s season is Masutha, after having promoted Black Leopards back to the premiership after more than a five-year-stay in the lower division. While on the notion that Mpengesi will give him more time, he is banking on at least making the top-10 by the end of the season.

“For me, we were very poor tonight,” Masutha admitted. “I think that they dictated play, and they were the worthy winners. For us, we just have to focus on the teams that are in the bottom half. We don’t look up and check where Wits or (Orlando) Pirates are right now. We’ll just have to play our mini league.

“We’ll have to recharge our batteries because (for us) to come out of this situation needs everyone to push hard, and I believe we will.

“The team was playing well but you cannot talk about changing the squad while the team was doing well.”