Chippa coach to celebrate by playing for 27 minutes against Galaxy
Lentjies relieved team missed relegation by a whisker
Chippa United coach Kurt Lentjies will return to the field and play in their final match against TS Galaxy on Saturday as a celebration after he saved the club from relegation.
Lentjies revealed this after their goalless draw with Swallows at Dobsonville Stadium on Saturday.
The result saw them secure their status in the DStv Premiership next season as they reached 29 points.
“As the chairman [Siviwe Mpengesi] promised me after I played my last game against Maritzburg United, I will definitely walk into the field to play 27 minutes this last game for my farewell,” Lentjies told reporters after the match.
“I will play for 27 minutes and coach the rest. That’s our agreement with the chairman.”
Lentjies, who took over in the middle of the season from Gavin Hunt, was pleased to have guided the club to safety, especially with this being his first season as a coach.
“I got the opportunity halfway through the season as a player going into the coaching industry. This job just came my way. God blessed me with the opportunity to coach,” he said.
“I had to decide whether I hang up the boots to coach these guys, which I’m enjoying very much. I’m happy the most important thing is we secured our status for next season so we can start building.”
Meanwhile, Swallows coach Dylan Kerr was disappointed with a draw as it leaves them in danger of facing automatic relegation.
Swallows will have to beat Kaizer Chiefs in their final match and hope Chippa do them a favour by beating TS Galaxy to move from the playoff spot.
“We are our worst enemies. We do things at training that we know and I know about. We knew they were going to defend and we knew that we had to be patient with them,” a disappointed Kerr said.
“As I said to them the whole week that the centre-backs of Chippa, you got to be clever and we took the game to them, I can’t fault the players for that. But again, decision-making around the penalty area has hurt the club.
“We have to win and we hope Chippa can beat TS Galaxy and hope Maritzburg United beat Baroka. We can still get relegated if Baroka win and we don’t.”