Monkey on Chippa’s backs taxing
Mpengesi feels his men can record elusive victory against Baroka at Sisa
As Chippa United return to Sisa Dukashe Stadium in Mdantsane on Saturday to host Baroka, the club’s chairperson Siviwe “Chippa” Mpengesi is confident they will bounce back as they are yet to win a game in the 2018-19 PSL season.
The Chilli Boys are currently situated at the basement of the logstandings, with only one point that was salvaged during their uninspiring encounter against newly-promoted Black Leopards – when they drew 2all at the NU2 venue three weeks ago.
It was this result that saw the only Eastern Cape PSL outfit firing coach Dan “Dance” Malesela for the third time, and roping in former SuperSport United coach Eric Tinkler.
In their opening game of the season, the Chilli Boys were beaten 2-0 by Bloemfontein Celtic.
Then they went on to host Orlando Pirates at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium where they lost 1-0 after their centreback Gaona Gerald Modisane scored an own goal.
The Chilli Boys’ latest disappointing result was against SuperSport United, who managed to beat them 2-1 at the Lucas “Masterpieces” Moripe Stadium.
That goal came from Kurt Lentjies who was assisted by captain Mark Mayambela in the 27th minute.
But that was only after Matsatsantsa took the lead when midfielder Teboho Mokoena opened in the 16th minute. Then Mokoena’s teammate Evans Rusike came through with their winning goal in the 42nd minute.
But Mpengesi told the Dispatch that there was no hope lost as they were returning to their happy hunting ground Sisa Dukashe, where they’ve only lost once – to Ajax Cape Town last season.
“There’s still hope for us, be- cause at least now coach Tinkler had enough time – two weeks – to prepare the boys for the Baroka encounter.
“So we have that hope that things will change since we are playing are Sisa Dukashe and we are not panicking as yet because it’s still early days in the season,” said Mpengesi.
He said Tinkler’s good performance at Matsatsantsa kept their hopes of improving their position on the log alive.
“We know what he [Eric Tinkler] wants to achieve with the club, so I think from this Saturday we are going to turn the corner.
“Because Sisa is our best ground – we don’t get easily beaten there, and the boys have been working hard with the coach.”
Mpengesi admitted that they may have failed to pull an upset against Baroka last season, but he said things have changed at his club which has had three coaches in one season.
“Our history with Baroka is not good, we didn’t beat them last season and they did beat us. So we are not going into this arrogant, we are respecting them as a formidable side,” the Chilli Boys boss said.
Mpengesi added: “But I was happy with the way the boys performed against SuperSport United. Because they were searching for goals – they just needed to be more clinical in their finishing.”