City’s sights on Chippa
Chippa United will face a wounded Polokwane City dead set on bouncing back from defeat when the teams contest their Absa Premiership fixture at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth on Wednesday (7.30pm).
Rise and Shine have enjoyed a good start to the season, having collected six points from their first three matches.
The Polokwane side beat Black Leopards and AmaZulu, both 1-0.
But the 1-0 loss to Wits in their most recent fixture will still be hurting.
City know they will not have it easy on Wednesday as they will face an equally determined outfit in Chippa.
Chippa suffered their first league defeat this season when they went down 2-1 to Golden Arrows in Durban on Saturday.
Polokwane head coach Jozef Vukusic said he was expecting a well-fought match against the Chilli Boys.
“This will be a very tough game for us and it doesn’t come at a good time, when we have the MTN8 semifinals next up [on Saturday].
“But it’s OK – we will use this game as part of our preparations for that.
“I was disappointed with our loss to Wits,” he said.
“Teams should not come to Polokwane to win.
“But in the first two games we got six points, so it’s not a bad start.
“But in football you must continue to get better.”
Polokwane have proved to be good travellers and the coach said this was something the players had adapted to last season.
“Getting points away is normal for Polokwane City.
“It’s not easy travelling but our players have adapted to it.
“Chippa are a good team, they have good players.
“I have watched their last two games, especially the Golden Arrows match.
“We have big respect for them and when we come on the field we expect good football from them,” he said.
“They also have a good coach with a lot of experience.”
After the Chippa game, Polokwane will have a couple of days to prepare for their MTN8 semifinal fixture against Highlands Park.
The team’s good spell in the league has spilled over to the MTN8 competition.
The Polokwane side are through to the semifinals of the competition after they knocked out defending champions Cape Town City in the first round of the event.
Vukusic said he expects his players to continue with the same fighting spirit that they showed in the match against Cape Town City.
“It was a tough game against Cape Town City but one win does not say nothing.
“My demand is for the players to continue producing good results.
“However, right now what is important to us is the Chippa game.
“We still have time to come back and prepare for the semifinal.”