Chippa determined to keep spot
CHIPPA United will not be relegated come end of the 2014/15 league campaign. This was the bold declaration made by the Eastern Cape club’s coach Roger Sikhakhane on Thursday.
It is backed up by previous statistics of the Chilli Boys during their maiden season in top flight football in the 2012/13 season. Then, Chippa achieved only 28 points in 30 games but in the ongoing campaign, they already have 20 points under their belt with 18 games to spare.
In fact, after 12 outings, Chippa which was then infamous for firing coaches left, right, and centre had managed a mere 10 points and only reached 20 points after 27 games.
“As things stand, I really do not see us getting relegated this time around, that is not going to happen,” said a confident Sikhakhane.
The Premier League returnees need just five wins to exceed 34 points, mathematically perceived to be enough to assure a PSL team survival in top flight football.
In the last five seasons of the SA Premier League division, no team that ended up finishing in the bottom two managed anything more than 30 points.
Of the 18 matches left before the league marathon reaches its finality, Chippa play eight as hosts and will be on the road 10 times which is a big advantage.
But the real test for Chippa will be how they fare in their December fixtures. In just 19 days, they have five games to play — three away and two at home. But Sikhakhane believes this is “no train smash.”
He said: “As to how many games we are playing in this many days and how many away is no train smash. We are ready and we know how we are going to win those games. We have enough players, all capable and our rotation policy will be key during this period.”
Chippa owner Siviwe “Chippa” Mpengesi praised his players and technical staff for having exceeded his mandate to just ensure that his club remains in the Premier League.
“They are now among teams that are consistently in the top eight and we can now say a first eight finish is indeed achievable,” Mpengesi said .
Sikhakhane said the club had learnt from the mistakes it committed in its first season in the Premier League and did well to avoid negative history repeating itself.
After their hard fought 1-0 victory against struggling Free State Stars on Wednesday night, the Chilli Boys are now preparing to blow hot when they welcome Black Aces next week.