Time not on Chippa’s side
Chippa United have precious little time to get it right before they face Soweto giants Orlando Pirates in their Absa Premiership encounter at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth on Wednesday (7.30pm).
The fixture against the Buccaneers will be the Chilli Boys’ second game of the season after they opened with a disappointing and limp 2-0 defeat at Bloemfontein Celtic on Sunday.
Chippa will want to bounce back as quickly as possible, but coach Dan “Dance” Malesela said there was a lot of “fixing” to be done before they take on Pirates.
The Port Elizabeth side produced an under-cooked performance against Siwelele which saw them fire blanks during rare occasions in front of goal.
Malesela said his troops let themselves down psychologically.
Before the game there had been much spoken about Celtic’s financial woes which have resulted in staff and players allegedly not being paid for months.
“We took what should not be our problems and made them ours,” the former Cape Town All Stars mentor said.
“We thought this was going to be one of those games that [are] easy because of rumours.
“When people have nothing to lose they will do whatever they want and when you realise it’s time I lifted myself, it will be too late. That is what happened. We played way out of character,” he said.
“We have a game against Pirates. I need to fix this now.
“There are a lot of things wrong that we need to fix and we don’t have time.
“I think maybe we need to fix the playing personnel in the starting lineup.
“But I do not want to be too analytical about the game [right after] we have played.
“It will be unfair to some players if I start judging them now. Let me give myself time to think.
“The one part I won’t change at all is that psychologically we just messed up.”
Meanwhile, newly appointed Celtic coach Steve Komphela complimented his players on a job well done.
He said their fixture against Chippa was just to test their fitness levels.
“We played against a very good team. A Chippa team that keeps possession and at some stage you know that if you don’t take the chances we created we might have to pay the price later on.
“But, I must compliment the players in terms of the sacrifice. They worked very hard.
“When we came into this match we were not coming to play and compete.
“We came into this match to acquire fitness, because we are behind.
“I heard a coach saying they were 60% with their project.
“I am sure we are 40%; there is a lot of work to be done.”