Chiefs must hit back after painful losses – Katsande

WILLARD Katsande says his Chiefs side will need to show a drastic improvement in their clash with Lamontville Golden Arrows today at FNB Stadium (8.15pm), as they desperately need to play catch-up in the fight for the top spots in the league.

Katsande, who wasn’t pleased with how his side failed to produce wins against both Cape Town City and SuperSport United in their last two matches, said it is crucial that they start picking up maximum points.

As it stands, the Glamour Boys are fourth on the PSL table with 46 points from their 26 league matches, while Arrows, who are fighting to secure a top eight finish this season, are ninth with 31 points from the same amount of matches as Chiefs.

“Losing to Cape Town City and SuperSport were big setback for us,” Katsande said.

“It was very painful, but at the same time we can’t give up hope because the truth is, anything can happen in this league.

“The only thing that we can do now is to continue fighting to get as many points as we can in our remaining four matches, and see what will happen when the season ends.

“We can’t change the past, but what we can do now is to continue giving our best with the hope that we will show a massive improvement from how we performed in our last two games.”

The Amakhosi central midfielder stated that he was also crossing his fingers that their arch-rivals, Orlando Pirates, produce a win when they host league contenders Mamelodi Sundowns tomorrow afternoon at Orlando Stadium, adding that such a result in Pirates’ favour, would help in narrowing the gap between them and the Absa Premiership defending league champions.

Amakhosi are just five points behind Sundowns who are second in the Absa Premiership table with 51 points, while an eight-point gap separates them from table-topping Bidvest Wits.

“Pirates will somehow have an influence where the league will go this season,” Katsande reasoned.

“This week they had a massive game against Wits on Thursday but lost 1-0. Now they play Mamelodi Sundowns tomorrow and that’s another massive game as they too are fighting for a top eight finish.

“They are motivated to grind for positive results, just as we are.”

Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe international commended the performance of their inexperienced shot-stopper, Bruce Bvuma, saying that he gave two good performances in the absence of the injured Itumeleng Khune and Brilliant Khuzwayo in the games against Cape Town City and SuoperSport, even though he conceded five goals in all.

“Bvuma actually did very well,” Katsande insisted.

“Sure he conceded those five goals but he also made some very good saves, which prevented us losing by even bigger scorelines.

“He showed plenty of character, and I believe the future for him is certainly a bright one.”