Chippa face psychological challenge, says coach Gwambi
● Latest PSL loss ramps up relegation pressure on Chilli Boys
With only four matches to go before the DStv Premiership soccer season comes to an end, Chippa United are pressing the panic buttons as the relegation axe hovers over them.
Following their 3-1 loss to Marumo Gallants on Wednesday at the Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane, the Chilli Boys are now second from the bottom of the log with 26 points from 26 games.
They are only two points away from the automatic relegation spot, which is occupied by Maritzburg, who have a game in hand.
Chippa’s interim coach Siyabulela Gwambi said their situation was no longer about tactics but more of a mental issue.
He said their job as the technical staff going into the remaining PSL fixtures was to make players believe that they could get out of the situation they were in.
“It’s a mental issue now because you want the boys to believe every time they are going into a game, they have to believe,” Gwambi said.
“You can do all the conditioning that you want to do, but on the field of play the tactics an uphill of the [battle] day will but talk.’So, it s a psychological it is aspect and we have to make sure the boys believe that we can do it, that it is achievable.
“This is not a nice position to be in, but we have been in this situation before and we have survived. We will try and push until the last hurdle.”
The Gqeberha based-side must still play Kaizer Chiefs, Richards Bay, TS Galaxy and Golden Arrows on their route to survival.
“It’s not going to be easy,” the coach said. “It’s an uphill battle and if you look actually from position eight right down, you see there’s only one point difference among teams going down the log.
“So it’s just a matter of winning one game and we’ll see the whole log change.
“We just need to soldier on and hope for that one win, because that will change the whole complexion of where we are sitting now.”
Reflecting on their loss against Gallants, Gwambi said: “Obviously, the outcome is not the desired result that we were looking for.
“It puts us in a very difficult position that we have to now fight back because they have jumped one spot ahead of us.
“I thought they dominated the first 30 minutes of the game and then, when we tried to see where potentially we could block them, we finally found our feet and we scored a goal.
“We went into halftime 1-0 and we planned how we were going to approach the second half, but our plan got crushed by two penalties that happened within the space of five minutes.
“So you can imagine how it changes the whole plan. “Now it becomes difficult. “It’s uphill because we have to get to 2-2 and to 3-2 as we had that hope that we were going to get three points after finishing the first half very wel,” he said.
“So it is like that; it’s painful, but we soldier on.”