PAYING THE PRICE
Kaizer Chiefs defender Ramahlwe Mphahlele believes they shot themselves in the foot and made things extra difficult in the Absa Premiership title race by dropping points in their last two matches. Amakhosi lacked fighting spirit and needlessly drew against a struggling Bloemfontein Celtic before suffering a deflating defeat at the hands of old rivals Orlando Pirates to fall eight points behind current leaders and favourites Mamelodi Sundowns.
“We took a huge sucker punch,” said the former Sundowns captain. “We had a big chance but it is now slim after dropping points against Celtic and Pirates. But we are still in there and we are chasing. What we have to do is try and win our next game. It’s no longer in our hands if we are being honest, because the guys ahead have a big gap on us.”
The 28-year-old right wingback said the pressure of being among the favourites for the championship might have crept in and undone them.
“It is at this stage that the pressure comes and you need players who can take the heat. You have put yourselves in a position where everybody says these guys can fight for the league and the pressure creeps in. That’s why we need to come together and say ‘can we focus on what we have on our plate’.
“The problem is that you can only control your games and not others’ games. You can sit at home and watch them and wish they mess up, but you cannot control their results. We can only control our results,” he said.
Mphahlele said that they have got over the defeat to the Buccaneers after they managed a 2-1 win over National First Division (NFD) side Stellenbosch FC to advance to the next stage of the Nedbank Cup.
“We managed to dust ourselves off and got the win against Stellenbosch in Durban. It feels good because the only way to heal from that pain (of losing to Pirates) is to win the next game. It was a setback and after such a loss you have to come back.”
Amakhosi host AmaZulu FC at FNB Stadium tomorrow evening and Mphahlele knows only a win will be enough for them as they need all the points they can accumulate to keep their hopes alive.
“We are chasing and it’s difficult at the moment because we have less points than the guys ahead of us. We have to keep going and keep focused on our games. As much as we are hoping other teams will lose some of their games, we have to focus on ourselves and win our games,” he said.