Break well timed for Chippa United

CHIPPA United coach Dan “Dance” Malesela said the Afcon break came at the right time as it would afford an opportunity for some of his wounded warriors to recover ahead of the second segment of the Premier Soccer League season.

The Port Elizabeth side had been faced with a number of injuries during the first half of their league campaign, with the longest layoff being that of striker Rhulani Manzini, which many feel might have cost the team in terms of scoring.

Manzini had been ruled out of action since September last year due to a metatarsal fracture and Malesela is pretty chuffed to have the 28-year-old striker back at training.

“It creates a lot of good competition within the team.

“It is a very good thing for us and hopefully he does not go through another bad spell,” the coach said.

“I think the Afcon break for us is more of a recovery, because we have got a number of injuries.”

The former Mamelodi Sundowns defender said he would also use the break to work on certain areas within the team that need to be fixed ahead of the start of the second leg.

“We have to fix this thing of conceding one goal every time,” Malesela said. “Apart from the cup game, we conceded a goal. We need to try and get some clean sheets.”

The coach said the team also needed to tighten up their central defence, closer to their goals.

Their primary objective now is to move away from the bottom.

Chippa are 11th on the log with 16 points from 14 games, and only four points separates them and bottom placed Baroka. They kick off the second half of the season against Baroka at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium next month.

“The primary objective is to beat Baroka FC so that they do not close the gap between us,” Malesala.

“The teams that are below us are the ones that we really have to focus on, but obviously you can’t ignore the ones that are above because three points is three points.

“It does not matter where they come from, whether the team is at the bottom or the top,” he said.