LAST CHANCE SALOON
Five teams are in the running for the title as the season reaches the business end, write and
IT’S win or bust for Gavin Hunt,
in terms of bringing the Absa Premiership to Milpark, and he knows it. This is after all primarily what the three-time league-winning coach was brought to do at Bidvest Wits four years ago.
The MTN8 was just an appetiser. Hunt and the club want the main course that is the league and there is strong belief in the club this is the season they can get their hands on the elusive trophy. The Clever Boys have gone from a midtable team to league contenders disappointed with finishing second under Hunt.
“If you look at Wits over the past three to four seasons, it’s a club that’s been growing,” Wits’ midfielder Daine Klate said. “They have consistently been in the top three and last season we finished second. It’s just a matter of getting past the final hurdle. That’s the only thing that we have missed. We would like to do it this season. We almost got into the group stage of the CAF Champions League where we lost to an African giant in AlAhly. We can only grow from that. No one would have thought that we would be here when the club was fighting to avoid relegation back in 2007 after it was relegated in 2005. We will try our best to bring it home.” Can Wits win the league? There isn’t a hint of arrogance in Klate’s voice when he says that every team, especially those vying for the league, would love to be in Wits’ position going into the final stretch of the league race. The 32year-old does know a thing or five about winning the championship — having won it five times in a row with SuperSport United and Orlando Pirates.
“If you ask any team, they would probably want to be in our situation at this point in time,” Klate said. “We know where we are and what we still need to do. That’s the most important thing, to focus on ourselves and not worry about what’s happening around us. That’s the one thing that a coach like Gavin always tells us. We have two games in hand. That doesn’t mean six points. So we shouldn’t get caught up in the talks of this and that, favourites and all that.”
The club’s awards ceremony last season was bittersweet. The sweet part was celebrating their best finish in the Premier Soccer League-era. But second left a bitter taste on the management’s tongues, especially having gone toe-to-toe for the better part of the season with eventual SO you thought the Brazilians have lost their samba? No wins in five matches does constitute a bit of a crisis if you are African champions: three goalless draws against Bloemfontein Celtic, Polokwane City and Chippa United, coupled with defeats to Cape Town City and Kaizer Chiefs left Downs looking comatose from conquering the continent. Or was it the babalas of winning the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Super Cup? The wheels are coming off, celebrated the critics. And then Boom! 5-0 against SuperSport United. It’s like a goal for each of the five games they failed to win in a row, if you excuse the elimination from the Nedbank Cup by Lamontville Golden Arrows. Coach Pitso Mosimane, winners Mamelodi Sundowns. The Brazilians broke free in the final stretch to put 14 points between themselves and Wits.
The Clever Boys lost ground because of injuries to captain Thulani Hlatshwayo, Phakamani has conceded that his team lost a lot of ground when they didn’t capitalise on the games in hand borne out of their catch-up programme owing to their CAF Champions League commitments. But has he given up on defending his title? Giving up is not part of his lexicon.
They will not move from fourth should they emerge victorious against Free State Stars this afternoon at James Motlatsi Stadium in Orkney.
But it will move them to 41 points after 21 games, just four points behind the log leaders, who have garnered 45, but Downs have games in hand. As recent history has rudely shown Sundowns, games in hand are pointless if they have not been won. Plus the small matter of Champions League group stages could be a distraction. But this is Sundowns ... Mahlambi and James Keene while Sundowns blew away everything in their path. This season Wits have more depth to challenge for the trophy. Moeneeb Josephs loses his mind and runs up the field to ERIC Tinkler’s, coaching acumen is coming to the fore in a big way. Cape Town City’s excellent excursion especially examined against the pedestrian performance that has defined the diabolical season of the team that jettisoned him, Orlando Pirates. But that’s Tinkler’s past. Here is his present: Brandnew team that has been a breath of fresh air. One piece of silverware, the Telkom Knockout, already glisters in the chiffonier.
The Citizens have been an impassioned revelation in their season of inception.
Tinkler has had the better of his counterparts as he is yet to lose to the top five contenders. The Citizens completed a double against Premier Soccer League and African champions Mamelodi Sundowns, winning 2-1 on the road at Loftus Versfeld and 1-0 at home in Athlone.
They held Kaizer Chiefs to a 1-1 draw at FNB Stadium and shared the spoils with SuperSport United at Athlone.
They also beat Bidvest Wits 3-2 in Pictures GALLO IMAGES collect a silly red card. No problem. Darren Keet takes the No 1 jersey and doesn’t return it. Nazeer Allie gets injured. Reeve Frosler replaces him with Siboniso Gaxa also around. In central midfield they have Ben Motshwari, Phumlani Ntshangase, Granwald Scott, Thabang Monare, Wangu Gome and Xola Mlambo. It’s the same thing in attack, which Hunt describes as the best the club has assembled in his tenure.
That depth makes them strong contenders for the league, along with the fact that their coach has won this trophy more than Eric Tinkler, Steve Komphela, Stuart Baxter and Pitso Mosimane. How can Wits win the league? Last season Wits won only one of their last six matches and in the campaign before they won only four of their last 10 games. Any slip-up in their last nine matches this season will be death, especially since Wits will play the other four contenders starting with Cape Town City on Wednesday before ending the campaign against Kaizer Chiefs. Those clashes will prove their championship credentials. The top five teams will cancel each other out when they meet, which means the most consistent team will win the league. Wits are that team at the moment.
What the club has done well is to find the right balance between youth and experience. For every Klate, Elias Pelembe and Bongani Khumalo who have STEVE Komphela, is an all-round decent human being. That’s the problem: coaching is a thankless job for thick-skinned bastards. Still no silverware in his second season with the club, Chiefs will start to think the inability of the coach to win trophies is contagious. Of all the contenders, his is a less-equipped squad qualitywise. However, it is credit to Komphela that, threadbare as they are, Amakhosi are in the running to be champions of the title they last won in the 2014-15 campaign. Too many draws, nine at the time of writing, have undermined their effort. They will have it tougher as they Milpark, Johannesburg.
Of course, Tinkler inherited a huge chunk of Mpumalanga Black Aces players. That lot has been crucial in City’s charge for the championship. And such has been City’s fairy-tale run, with their 4-2 demolition job of Platinum Stars on Thursday. Their triple M — Mngoma (Aubrey), Manyama (Lebogang), Moseamedi (Judas) — have been magnificent, making a mess of all that comes before them. Comparisons with Leicester City have been unavoidable.
The Citizens have come out of nowhere, are the talk of the town and have it in them to finish where everyone wants to be: summit. won the league, there is young Mahlambi, Reeve Frosler and Sibongakonke Mbatha who are driven to get their maiden league winners’ medal. Experience and youth complement each other well. Those who have won the league bring the experience needed in the final stretch while the youth bring the energy to take the team to the finish line.
“The only league I’ve won before was with the Wits Under19s,” Mahlambi said. “That’s just a small achievement. Even the excitement after winning it wasn’t that much because it was just a junior trophy. Winning it with the first team will be bigger. It’s something every member of this team wants.” enter the final straight. They have fewer matches, six, remaining of the five chasers. Of those, four will be on the road. Championship credentials are proved by how a team does against fellow pretenders to the throne. Chiefs’ next two league matches against Cape Town City at Cape Town Stadium and away to SuperSport United at Lucas Masterpieces Moripe Stadium in Atteridgeville will provide tell-tale signs whether they have the stomach to go all the way. They will want to have stowed away enough points by the time they welcome Bidvest Wits for their final match of the season. And the review will begin to determine what will become of Komphela’s fate. The thanks-for-nothing kick in the butt from Kaizer Motaung’s boot will be Komphela’s reward should he preside over another barren season.