Cape Town City FC and Stellenbosch FC will be looking to close out the year with Betway Premiership victories this weekend.
Stellenbosch will be first in action against the resurgent SuperSport United at the Lucas Moripe Stadium, Atteridgeville, on Saturday evening. City are next with a fixture against AmaZulu at the Cape Town Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Stellenbosch are coming off a narrow 1-0 defeat to Mamelodi Sundowns in Cape Town last Wednesday. Despite their overwhelming possession advantage, the reigning champions Sundowns only managed one goal through the Stellenbosch old boy Iqraam Rayners.
The match statistics show that Stellenbosch with its meagre possession, had more shots at goal (14-12) and that shows their ability to deal with the Sundowns' defence adequately. Stellenbosch had a few opportunities to equalise after Rayners' early goal after they fashioned a handful of breakaway chances.
Steve Barker, the Stellenbosch coach, will work his gameplan around star winger Devin Titus, who can be relied on to produce an impressive performance. After featuring in 102 matches across all competitions, his contributions have been invaluable, with 24 goals and seven assists.
Known for possessing high-level creative qualities, Titus brings his unique skill set which could be a match-winner against SuperSport.
SuperSport claimed back-to-back Betway Premiership wins for the first time this season after they defeated Magesi FC 1-0 at the Lucas Moripe Stadium on Saturday night.
The winning goal was scored by Bradley Grobler who has been impressive since his return from a long-term absence because of injury. He has scored two goals in three matches since returning to action.
City are buoyed by their first away win of the season in the league with a 1-0 victory over Chippa United at the Buffalo City Stadium in East London on Saturday evening. They will find AmaZulu a hard nut to crack, as Sundowns discovered when they scraped home 1-0 at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on Tuesday afternoon.
Rayners rescued Sundowns with a goal in the final minute of regulation time otherwise AmaZulu would have earned a draw despite being under the cosh for the greater part of the game, despite playing with 10 men in the final 30 minutes. Sundowns goalkeeper Ronwen Williams who was recently crowned 'Africa’s Best Goalkeeper of the Year' was given a red card in the 58th minute.
Afterwards, AmaZulu co-coach Vusumuzi 'Kanu' Vilakazi was unhappy because his team did not take advantage of the 10-man opposition, and also because of the concentration lapse that allowed Rayners to score the decider.
"Conceding at the end, it was not an open play so we wouldn't say Sundowns when they were less in numbers were dominating. They were not, it was just a set play where we needed to concentrate and I was just looking at the goal right now, two players were not even aware of Rayners' movement,” said Vilakazi.
AmaZulu's new signing Bongani Zungu lacks the required fitness levels although it is possible the Bafana Bafana and former Sundowns midfielder Bongani Zungu may find himself on the substitutes' bench. | Independent Media Sport