KZN sides look to bounce back

INJURIES and errors threaten the prospects of Golden Arrows and Maritzburg United achieving their top eight targets in the Absa Premiership as they head into six-pointer clashes this weekend.

Arrows kick off a full round of weekend action when they trek to East London for today’s only game – against Chippa United. Maritzburg will wrap up the programme with a rare Sunday outing at Harry Gwala Stadium against Free State Stars.

Both come off defeats, Arrows at home against Free State last weekend and the Team of Choice at SuperSport United midweek.

Similar results this weekend will see them lose ground in the race to finish in the top eight.

Already Maritzburg have dropped out of the top half, occupying ninth place courtesy of a better goal difference than Orlando Pirates, who are sailing rough seas. Bucs’ fortunes should improve once new coach Kjell Jonevret gets a handle on the problem, and then Maritzburg would sink further unless they improve.

Arrows are fortunate to still be in the upper half, largely because of the struggles of their closest rivals. However, Chippa will view this as a mustwin affair because they enjoy home ground advantage and also come off a loss, said Arrows’ Clinton Larsen.

Besides inconsistent results an extra hurdle for the Durbanites is a lengthy injury list. “Danny Phiri is out, and Vuyani Ntanga, KG (Kagisho Dikgacoi) and Nkanyiso Cele are doubtful. So, like last season we will have to go to our Diski team and take one or two boys,” said Larsen.

“The challenge is that it leaves us thin in terms of collective experience but it can be a blessing in disguise – last season we saw a few players come through when we were in a similar situation.”

Players who could come into the travelling squad from the Diski team are Lungelo Dube and Siyanda Dlamini.

At Maritzburg, coach Roger de Sa bemoaned “schoolboy errors” following their midweek 4-1 capitulation at SuperSport after leading 1-0 at the break.

His captain Kurt Lentjies expressed his “disappointment at seeing the guys give up so quickly after conceding two early goals”.

It points to a need to work on the mental aspect in crunch situations, besides improving their goal threats.

A Durban derby between First Division rivals AmaZulu and Real Kings promises to overshadow the PSL game.

Usuthu host rookies Kings on Sunday afternoon in KwaMashu where revenge for a first round defeat is part of the motivation..