Morgan Gould © Backpagepix

SUPERSPORT EYE DOUBLE OVER CHIEFS

“In order to defend our title we have to beat teams like Kaizer Chiefs,” says Morgan Gould ahead of SuperSport United’s Absa Premiership clash against the Amakhosi at Loftus Versveld on Wednesday evening, kick-off at 7:30pm.

“We have set goals for ourselves as a team and one of those goals is to get maximum points against the bigger teams if we want to defend our league title,” continues the Matsatsantsa defender.

And getting points against Chiefs has been no problem for SuperSport in their recent history, claiming four wins and two draws in their last seven league encounters with the Soweto wide. Not only did Gavin Hunt’s men beat the Amakhosi 1-0 earlier in the 2009/10 season; they also managed an emphatic 3-0 triumph in the corresponding fixture last season.

The Soweto giants will have to stand up and be counted on Wednesday night when they face their toughest challenge of the season thus far, but one man who is confident his side can do that is their midfield general Tinashe Nengomasha. “We are starting to play some good football and we are vey confident going into the match,” says the Amakhosi midfield hard-man.

Chiefs have looked fairly impressive of late, managing to go on a five-game unbeaten run claiming three wins and two draws. Most recently they upended title contenders Santos with a slender 1-0 win. Reneilwe Letsholonyane was the hero on the day with the game’s only goal.

A similar performance from Chiefs will be necessary if they wish to overcome the defending PSL Champions and current league leaders, but again Nenogmasha is adamant his team have what it takes: “We have been working hard in training and we are linking well together as a team.”

Nengomahsa, no matter how confident he is in his team’s ability, is no fool when it comes to the dangers of SuperSport. “We know United are good at set-pieces and good at going forward, but we have focused on that in training. They also have some dangerous players in Daine Klate and Anthony Laffor who we will watch very closely,” says the Amakhosi man.

Matsatsantsa are definitely good going forward and their 33 goal tally thus far this season is evidence of that, but what may be of more concern to Hunt is the fact that his side have conceded a staggering eight goals in their last five matches, which includes four in their last two. Most recently SuperSport, after taking a commanding lead, just managed to scrape a 3-2 win over Maritzburg United in their last league match.

“We have been letting a few soft goals in at the back but that is something we have really worked hard on at training. We need to stay focussed for the full 90 minutes,” confirms Gould.

SuperSport will be without both Letladi Madubanya and Shane Poggenpoel for this match, who are out due to injuries. They will also miss the services of Tsietsi Mahoa who is suspended. Chiefs, on the other hand, are still without Valery Nahayo, who is nursing a groin injury.

In conclusion, both Gould and Nengomasha admit that this match is a “big game” and rightly so with one team trying to maintain their lead at the top of the standings while another tries to close the gap.