Staff Reporter.
Kaizer Chiefs will be eyeing nothing but a victory when they square off with Marumo Gallants in a DStv Premiership match at the FNB Stadium on Tuesday.
Kick-off is at 7:30 pm CAT (SA, GMT+2).
The Glamour Boys’ woes continued when they recorded their fourth successive defeat in the league when they succumbed to a 2-1 loss to Cape Town City at home on Saturday and they are also winless in their four matches in the competition.
The Soweto giants find themselves fifth on the league standings – five points behind third-placed Cape Town City and six points behind second-placed Royal AM as the race to finish second hots up with leaders Mamelodi Sundowns having already clinched the championship.
Arthur Zwane, the Chiefs co-interim coach, apologised to the Amakhosi fans following the team’s defeat to City, but he promised that his side will bounce back to winning ways in order to keep their ambitions of finishing second alive.
“We obviously apologise that we disappointed them, we won’t give up. We will bounce back,” Zwane said.
Meanwhile, Gallants are on cloud nine at the moment having reached this season’s Nedbank Cup final after defeating GladAfrica Championship side Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila 1-0 in a semifinal clash last week Friday.
However, Bahlabane Ba Ntwa are winless in their last five matches in the DStv Premiership which sees them placed 11th on the standings – four points behind eighth-placed SuperSport United and eight points above the relegation zone with four games left.
Dan Malesela, the Gallants head coach, was pleased with how his charges played in the second half against Tshakhuma and he will be hoping that they replicate the same display when they face Chiefs.
“We only started playing in the second half because I gave them hell in the change room at halftime. It was always going to be a difficult match because it was a semifinal, it didn’t matter whether we were playing a team from the lower leagues or not,” Malesela said.
“I’m pleased we were able to defend very well in the moments that we were under pressure because we got a bit uncomfortable on set-pieces but I’m happy with how my boys defended.
“We weren’t really exerting ourselves enough in the first half, we were just playing for the sake of playing and we didn’t recognise the seriousness of the match and where we might end up.”