Sibisi benefits under De Haan
SISA MAJOLA
JOHANNESBURG - The departure of Muhsin Ertugral and the arrival of Dutch native Faan de Haan at the helm of Ajax Cape Town, has played dividends for one man in particular.
Since the Turk returned home, the club’s number one striker Diyo Sibisi seems to have recaptured his deft scoring touch and has gone on to net three goals in the last two league matches.
The 27-year-old had simply been failing to live up to expectations after his highly-publicised move from Mamelodi Sundowns at the beginning of the season.
“The thing is that we played a different formation under Muhsin that made it hard for me to play the way I normally do,” said Sibisi.
“He wanted me to drop deep and hold the ball for attacking midfielders to capitalise on the space created.”
Sibisi will be leading the attack tomorrow night as his second-placed side meet Orlando Pirates in a crunch league fixture set for Orlando Stadium.
Ajax have collected 28 points from 15 games, while Pirates are fourth in the standings with 24 points from the same number of fixtures.
This will also be the Urban Warriors’ first trip back to the Soweto venue since their disastrous 6-0 MTN8 Cup final loss to Golden Arrows last month.
“We do think about the Cup loss, we lost our self-belief for a while after that game,” Sibisi said.
“But we have to leave that in the past. It’s a different situation and at the moment our focus is on chasing SuperSport United and winning the league.”
At Chatsworth Stadium, Golden Arrows face a mercurial Moroka Swallows.
Both matches will kick off at 8.15pm.
In the afternoon, log leaders SuperSport play Maritzburg United at Loftus Versveld, with Platinum Stars hosting Jomo Cosmos at Moruleng Stadium in Rustenburg.
Both games will start at 3.30pm.
On Sunday, it will be the Free State derby between Free State Stars and Bloemfontein Celtic at Charles Mopeli Stadium.
This will be Gordon Igesund’s first game on the Stars bench after joining them earlier in the week.
Celtic are seventh with 22 points from 15 matches, while Ea Lla Koto are not yet out of the relegation zone.
They are 13th, with 15 points from the same number of games.
Mpumalanga Black Aces meet Sundowns at Puma Stadium in Witbank. Both games are set to begin at 3.30pm.