Chippa have City in their crosshairs
CHIPPA United will be out to double their winnings against Polokwane City when the two sides meet in a PSL fixture, at Nelson Mandela Bay stadium tonight.
The Port Elizabeth soccer side will be hoping to repeat their 2-0 Nedbank Cup win over the Rise and Shine on the weekend, which saw Chippa progress to the next round of the tournament.
But most importantly the “Chilli Boys” will be looking to finally break their six-match winless run in the league tonight.
Despite their good results in the Nedbank Cup Chippa have not won a game in the league since their 2-1 win over Baroka in February.
Soon after their win against Polokwane, coach Dan Malesela said his main focus was on tonight’s game as it was a crucial one for his side.
Malesela had hoped that his players would not be caught by the bug of just winning cup games and not league matches as both were important.
“I do not want that to happen. I want us to be able to deal with games because games are games irrespective whether they are cup games or not,” he said.
“I am not one who says, I will choose this one (game) over that one. I don’t do that.”
The former Orlando Pirates skipper said the season has not been an easy one considering the injuries that the team has had.
“We’ve never had a solid team in three matches. So it all depends on how we handle ourselves in getting the results.
“If the results are forthcoming it becomes a good thing, but it also needs an element of luck to say we shouldn’t have injuries or suspensions.”
The Chilli Boys are 10th on the log with 23 points from 22 games.
Meanwhile, the visitors are plotting for revenge against Chippa after the weekend’s results.
In spite of their seventh place standing on the log, Polokwane have been struggling to win matches. They have been without a triumph in nine league games.
The last time the team tasted victory was when they beat Chippa 1-0 in December last year.
Speaking after their Nedbank Cup defeat coach Bernard Molekwa said he would sit down with his technical team and analyse the game to see where his team went wrong.
“If changes are needed then we will do them. If not than we will still play the same team,” said Molekwa.
However he said his side needed to improve on their finishing if they wanted to win against Chippa tonight.
“We had chances that we could have buried unfortunately we didn’t because of composure and proper thinking in the third half. So that is something that we still need to work on.” in the late autumn of his is first-choice under Ancelotti. AFP