All to play for as Stellies face United
THE sprint for the season-ending log positions is heating up, and Stellenbosch FC can steal a march on their rivals by defeating SuperSport United in their Premiership clash at the Lucas “Masterpieces” Moripe Stadium today.
Stellenbosch are presently sixth, and a victory could see them leapfrog past the Soweto teams Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs into fourth place.
SuperSport, on the other hand, are hovering at the bottom of the top eight zone in eighth place and a victory today could see them replace Stellenbosch in sixth place.
Since SuperSport have parted ways with coach Kaitano Tembo, the team is unbeaten in two matches under interim coach Andre Arendse, who steered the side to a win over Chiefs and a draw against Marumo Gallants.
In their first league meeting this season, the visiting SuperSport emerged 1-0 victors at the Danie Craven Stadium in early December. SuperSport will do well to repeat this scoreline but Stellenbosch has shown tremendous improvement since then.
The other stand-out aspect of Arendse’s stint is that the team kept clean sheets in both matches. This was a far cry from the poor defence which leaked eight goals in their previous four matches. Arendse, however, feels his charges must not get carried away by their change of fortunes.
“We mustn’t get carried away with ourselves,” said Arendse.
“The Kaizer Chiefs three points was huge for us, so it was not our divine right to come out here and think we have three points in the bag.
“A very big positive was to keep two clean sheets in a row. I think that’s important. We’re always telling our players, ‘you keep clean sheets you don’t lose games’, and that’s the truth.”
Stellies have enjoyed a terrific run in their last 10 league matches and suffered only two defeats.
They are holding out hopes of a top-three finish.
Coach Steve Barker says the team is still on a high after their success against Chiefs on Saturday. but feels the team will be starting from scratch for the trip to Atteridgeville.
“Important that we get back to zero and there are still four games left,” said Barker.
“The top eight is still our priority. I believe we’re probably one win away from securing that and if we can (do that) and still have two or three matches left then we can even try push for higher honours.”
SuperSport’s Thamsanqa Gabuza, the 34-year-old striker, remains the team’s main threat in front of goal despite his advancing years and is one ahead of teammate Ghampani Lungu on the scoring charts.
Midfielder Jesse Donn has become a vital cog in the middle of the park for Matsatsantsa.