Tembo feels United aren’t out of title race
Rivals’ fixture schedule offers SuperSport hope
SuperSport United coach Kaitano Tembo is not ready to throw in the towel in the Absa Premiership title race.
Despite an alarming slump in form that has left them 11 points off leaders Kaizer Chiefs with eight games remaining, Tembo feels his side is still in with a chance.
He believes that with title hopefuls Chiefs, Orlando Pirates, Mamelodi Sundowns, Bidvest Wits and SuperSport still to play each other, anyone can still win it.
“All we need is a little bit of consistency in the next four games,” Tembo said yesterday.
“A lot of the teams in the top five will still have to play each other.
“We still have to play Pirates; we are playing Wits now. Wits are going to play Chiefs [twice]. They still have to play Pirates.
“Sundowns still have to play Chiefs and Pirates, so points are going to be dropped along the way.
“I think in the last three or two games, that’s where we will start knowing who will win the league.”
Matsatsantsa a Pitori have not enjoyed a good run of results recently, losing three successive matches in all competitions. They lost to Stellenbosch and Golden Arrows in the league, while also suffering a defeat to Sundowns in the Nedbank Cup competition – going down 1-0 on all three occasions.
Tembo is aware that they cannot afford to drop any more points, starting with the match against Wits at Mbombela Stadium tomorrow (8.15pm)
“It’s been a little bit difficult going through a rough patch where, in terms of performance we have been playing well but we can’t score goals.
“We just hope this weekend we will start scoring goals and winning matches.
“We had a huge break where we managed to work a little bit on different combinations,” Tembo said.
With SuperSport and Wits facing each other tomorrow, Tembo says he agrees with the suggestion that both teams are the dark horses in the title race.
“It’s all up to us to make that [winning the league] happen and I can’t fault the players in terms of work ethic.”
SuperSport will welcome Aubrey Modiba back from injury while new signing Guily Manziba is also available for selection.