Cup stars struggling in League

WHILE they have made waves in the Nedbank Cup by beating two PSL teams to reach the quarterfinals, it is a different story unfolding for Ubuntu Cape Town in the National First Division.

In the Cup competition, Ubuntu beat Polokwane City to reach the round of 16 and then dumped hosts AmaZulu out of the competition 3-2 to reach the last eight.

But in their league campaign it has been a struggle all season long to stay out of the relegation zone. And it didn’t help their cause after former PSL side Jomo Cosmos beat them 3- 1 upcountry.

Cosmos moved to fourth on the log and strengthen chances of booking a slot in the season-ending promotional play-offs, but Ubuntu dropped three places to 15th on the 16-team table, which for most of the season has been familiar territory for the men from the Western Cape.

There was hope of a reprieve this year for the Cup giant-killers after going four league games unbeaten with three wins over higher- placed opposition, but with six rounds remaining there is the prospect of losing their status.

There are 18 points left to play for, for Ubuntu, who next host high-flyers Real Kings at Athlone Stadium.

Kings are third to Black Leopards and runaway leaders Highlands Park, who have opened up a 15-point lead and could well be crowned league champions if netting three points from their away clash with league rookies Tshakhuma Tsha Madzihandila (TTM FC) at the Thohoyandou Stadium.

Some good news from a Cape point of view is that Cape Town All Stars are within striking distance of a play-off spot.

Stars moved up to sixth after delivering a potentially fatal blow to Stellenbosch FC’s ambitions of ending up second or third in a 2-0 victory at Parow Park, taking their points tally to 34 which is four shy of Kings.

Stellies drop below mid-table to 10th on 30, meaning the Winelands side will have to win all their remaining matches and then hope results go their way for a possible play-off spot for the second year running.

Though that is an unlikely scenario as they have only won six times from 24 outings.

The division seldom witnesses a winning run from any team bar the pacesetters, who have won 16 of 26 starts to be the only ones with a win record above 50% – five sides have bagged 10 wins apiece from the same number of games.