Chippa’s strike force primed to fire

● Kwem, Eva Nga find form as Chilli Boys target double over Cape Town City

Coach Dan Malesela will again bank on his foreign strike force as Chippa United target a hitand-run double over Cape Town City in their DStv Premiership encounter at the Sisa Dukashe Stadium in Mdantsane this afternoon (3pm).

This will be the second time the sides meet in three days, having clashed in the Nedbank Cup last-16 competition at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Sunday.

On that occasion it was the Gqeberha side who emerged victorious, beating the Citizens 2-1 in extra-time after the teams were deadlocked at 1-1 in regulation time.

Nigerian striker Augustine Kwem scored the first goal for the Chilli Boys and the winner came from Cameroonian Bienvenu Eva Nga with just four minutes remaining in extra time.

This afternoon’s fixture takes on a different form as a league match and Malesela is eyeing the three vital points his team need to keep them above the relegation zone.

“It is going to be a difficult game again,” Malesela said.

“This is not an easy team to play against and you know us being so desperate for points it makes matters even worse.

“We also have Sizwe Mdlinzo out with four yellow cards and we have to have a replacement for him.”

Having said that, the 55year-old coach said the healthy competition between strikers Kwem and Eva Nga could work in Chippa’s favour.

“We were worried at some stage because I think it’s taken them a longer time to adjust to how we want to play than we expected and we also had to be patient because you cannot force things on players.

“We had to wait a little bit to say ‘how do we play them, who do we play first’ and slowly they will get into the grip of things.

“It also helps sometimes that you may play both of them if they start doing very well.

“In some matches where you really need to have two strikers you may play them.

“But it’s good that we have strikers who score goals because it was heading in a direction where seemingly the word striker to me was beginning to become an overrated term.

“We have strikers who are not striking anything.

“That is why I say to them they are attackers more than anything.

“Once they score goals then we will call them strikers.

“I am happy that these guys are scoring and we just need to follow up in Mdantsane and hope that they continue scoring.”

The Chilli Boys have 15 points from 16 matches.

They will be looking to improve on their last league result — a 1-1 draw against TS Galaxy.

Malesela’s troops will have another tough encounter on Saturday when they host Orlando Pirates at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.