Chippa to dig deep to climb up log
LOSING key players halfway through the season, especially when the team is struggling, is not an ideal situation.
Chippa United will go into the second half of the season after letting go of James Okwuosa, Marc van Heerden and Thembinkosi Lorch, but right-back Diamond Thopola said the team is still good enough to finish in the top five this season.
Of course, it won’t be a walk in the park.
Chippa are at the bottom half of the table after an inconsistent run of results, so they need to find the right combinations in the second round to reach their targets.
Thopola has warned new players Justice Chabalala, Sello Japhta and Donald Mokondelela that they have big shoes to fill as Chippa need to hit the ground running if they want to improve on last season’s sixth place finish.
Japhta and Mokondelela, in particular, need to create more opportunities for the team and chip in with goals to help improve Chippa’s poor record of 14 goals in as many matches this season.
“The guys who left played a big role in the team. The new guys have big shoes to fill, but they [Japhta and Mokondelela] are good players and they will help us going forward because we have been struggling to score,” said Thopola.
“It’s possible [to finish in the top five]. We set targets at the beginning of the season and we want to do well in the league and the cups as well. We just have to give it our best and see how things go. We are working on moving from the bottom half of the table.”
Chippa welcome bottom of the table Baroka at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium tomorrow (7.30pm).
“We beat Baroka in the first round, but we cannot afford to be complacent.
“So, we just have to get better. We are looking forward to the game,” Thopola said.
“Going into the second half of the season we need to make sure we score more and defend a lot better as a team.”