SuperSport haven’t yet thrown in towel on Premiership crown
● With most teams floundering in the race to win the 2017/18 Absa Premiership title, SuperSport United were seen as able to go toe-to-toe with their Tshwane neighbours Mamelodi Sundowns, who have emerged in the past few weeks as serious contenders.
SuperSport’s recent results, particularly the last three, have revealed coach Eric Tinkler’s team’s frailties and showed perhaps that fatigue has set in on many of Matsatsantsa a Pitori players following their courageous campaign in the Caf Confederation Cup in which they lost to TP Mazembe in the final last month.
Despite picking up only two points in their last three Premiership matches, SuperSport skipper Dean Furman refused this week to give up on their title chase, saying they still have a chance to mix it with the Brazilians, who opened an eight-point gap with their 4-1 win over Bloemfontein Celtic in Pretoria yesterday.
“We definitely still believe we’re in the race,” said Furman, whose team have lost two of their nine matches so far.
“Obviously we are very disappointed with our last three matches where we failed to get the desired results.
“We had plenty of chances to go 3-0 up at half time against Orlando Pirates [0-0] and we did the same against Cape Town City [1-1] where we were lucky to get back on level terms in the last minute.
“Our midweek 1-0 loss to Free State Stars was hugely disappointing but we haven’t given up on our hopes regarding the league title.”
Furman admits, though, that it’s been difficult for them to play catch-up. Baroka FC will be their next opponents in Polokwane today followed by Bloemfontein Celtic in the Free State on Wednesday.
“That’s what you get when you play in Caf competitions. It’s been tough for all my teammates because we never really had a break from last season. But using that as an excuse for our poor results of late will be disingenuous,” said Furman.
The Bafana Bafana midfielder dismissed suggestions of fatigue, arguing that they are still feeling good and that Tinkler has helped by rotating the players, blending into the team more of those who had limited or no role at all in the Caf cup campaign.
Talking about their next opponents, Baroka, he cautioned against taking them lightly even though they shipped in seven goals and scored none in their two losses against Sundowns and Maritzburg last week.
“As you saw against Stars who had lost 30 to Celtic on Sunday,” said Furman, “previous results count for nothing in this league.
“So we can’t really go to Baroka with a bad mentality. We have to be on our toes throughout the 90 minutes to ensure we get a good result.
“We fully understand that those last two matches this year against Baroka and Celtic are critical for us in chasing Sundowns and remaining in the title race.”
Those last two matches this year against Baroka and Celtic are critical for us in chasing Mamelodi Sundowns and remaining in the title race Dean Furman SuperSport United captain