AMAKHOSI COACH JOHNSON HOPES FOR AN IMPROVED DISPLAY AGAINST HIGH-FLYING STELLIES AT HOME
Kaizer Chiefs interim coach Cavin Johnson (pictured) is hoping his team can take the chances that come their way when high-flying Stellenbosch visit the FNB Stadium today.
Kick-off is at 7.30 pm.
The Glamour Boys wasted a plethora of opportunities in a 0-0 draw with Cape Town City at Athlone Stadium on Saturday, which left them winless in their last two DStv Premiership outings.
Amakhosi have recorded just one win in five games since the league resumed last month after the mid-season break, and they are five points adrift of the Caf Champions League places in seventh spot.
Chiefs have a good recent record against Stellies though, with a 2-0 victory in the reverse fixture at Athlone Stadium on August 30 making it three top-flight wins in a row.
The Maroons are soaring after they beat Royal AM 3-0 at the Danie Craven Stadium on Saturday to leapfrog SuperSport United and Orlando Pirates into second position.
Steve Barker’s side have won two of their five matches in 2024, but are challenging for continental football on the back of an impressive 12-game unbeaten run in the league.
Said Johnson: “Good game of football [against Cape Town City] I thought, but in the end the pitch was heavy, but I thought in the 90 minutes we had a better opportunity to seal the game.”
Siyethemba Sithebe will be pushing for only his third start of the campaign after catching the eye in the stalemate against the Citizens.
The 31-year-old midfielder hadn’t featured since the 2-1 defeat to Mamelodi Sundowns on August 9, but he was a livewire in the middle of the park and squandered two chances to open the scoring early on, while he threaded Wandile Duba and Ashley Du Preez through on goal with two delightful passes.
For Stellenbosch, Iqraam Rayners played a starring role against Thwihli Thwahla on his 50th appearance for the club, setting up Devin Titus for the opener on 25 minutes before sealing the win in the 56th minute.
Meanwhile, log-leading Mamelodi Sundowns host Richards Bay in one of today’s other games.
Downs midfielder Teboho Mokoena has given an honest assessment of the frustrating goalless draw away to Young Africans in Tanzania on Saturday.
The Brazilians looked a little bit disjointed against a determined Yanga side that was spurred on by 60 000 fans that packed into the Benjamin Mkapa National Stadium
Mokoena admits that the Tanzanian champions forced them to change their game plan in a match where they failed to create clear-cut chances in the first leg of the Caf Champions League quarter-final encounter.
However, they will still be favoured to get past Richards Bay today.
Tomorrow’s highlight is Moroka Swallows versus Orlando Pirates, while Royal AM visit TS Galaxy in another
7.30 pm kick-off on the day.