Chiefs, Forest clash
A premier battle of First Division South titans, Mochudi Centre Chiefs and URI Black Forest is expected later today when the two former Premier League sides clash in what promises to be an epic contest for maximum points.
Magosi began the season in uncompromising mode as they thrashed hapless Uniao Flamengoes by five (5) goals to two (2), a victory that was said to be a statement of intent by its supporters as they once more, as it has been in the past three years, look to bounce back into the elite league.
The Kgatleng giants were on the road to Tsabong over the weekend where they have not won in their previous two visits and Black Rangers ensured the trend continues as the meet ended with a goalless draw.
It will be Magosi’s first game this season at home in Ramonaka, River Plate grounds, where they have been solid with eight wins, two draws and one defeat in all their home games last season, which include a 2-0 drubbing of today’s visitors.
Both teams came close to gaining promotion last season, Magoleng faded out of title push in the last six games of the campaign as Holy Ghost pulled away from the chasing pack.
Chiefs however made it to the promotional play-off finals and they will not want to be reminded of what Eleven Angels did to them at the Francistown Stadium after a humiliating 5-0 defeat to deny them promotion.
Forest have equally made an impressive start to the season and have been scoring goals for fun, Broadhurst United will testify to this after suffering a 4-nil defeat at the hands of Thatayaone Gaokgorwe who is leading the technical are of Mmankgodi based side.
Ahead of this clash, representatives of the two clubs did not shy away from expressing their strong intentions to get promotion this season.
“Our intension is to get promoted, last year we were undone by lack of scoring enough goals but this season in our first games we have shown that we addressed that situation. We are more of an attacking side this season and it is paying dividends,” Nametso Majafi told Sun Sports.
“Our objective is to gain promotion, automatic promotion, we don’t want to go through promotional play-offs like last season, it will not be right for us to go through the play-off final like last season. All concerned stakeholders of the club have made it their priority to get the team promoted this season and we strongly believe that is an achievable objective,” Bobo Moswaane, Center Chiefs Secretary General buoyantly stated.
Moswaane further revealed that they have set themselves a target of five (5) wins in their first (6) matches.
“Black Forest are a side we know very well and I believe that we have an upper hand in tomorrow’s clash. They have been freely scoring and we also have shown that we have that in our locker, for tomorrow’s game I think we have more quality than them and that will help us to secure maximum points.
After the draw in Tsabong the next 4 matches we are targeting wins, that is the target we have set,” he added.
For Forest, Majafi said, “this is a game we treat like any other game, we are not undermining them but we will treat them with respect. We have been preparing well and we will go out there to compete and fight for all the three (3) points.”
Chiefs have been struggling with finances in the past few season which has been detrimental to their lackluster performances in the previous seasons, Moswaane said the challenge relating to finance still exists.
He said they are doing the best they can to ensure that the players’ welfare is taken care of, as they continue negotiations with potential sponsors or partners.
A victory for either side could see them topple down Notwane from the top of the log after they dropped points against CrackIt City Polar over the weekend, as the league settles into what promises to be a fascinating title challenge.