Maritimo see the silver lining around a dark cloud
Although his team suffered a huge setback, Maritimos head coach does not give up.
Club Sport Maritimo head coach Selby ‘Sfuba’ Sihlangu is still confident that his team will finish in the top four despite suffering a huge setback recently.
“Based on our calculations, we still have a chance to finish the season in the top four,” Sfuba told Rekord.
According to the head coach, they hope that they would win all their remaining four matches and their main rivals including Pretoria Athletic, Chillie Boys, Touch and Ma-Lions lose their games.
“We have easy games ahead and our rivals have difficult matches to play. I, therefore, don’t see them winning the upcoming games, which will work in our favour,” he said.
Maritimo will play Pretoria Athletic at Woodhill College sports ground on Saturday at 15:00.
They will then face the University of Pretoria on May 7, Cullinan on May 13 and Mamas All-Stars on May 21. Based on the log standings, the University of Pretoria seem to be the strongest team as they are in position two of the log with 53 points in 23 games.
Pretoria Athletic is also one of the strong teams as it is in the fourth spot with 44 points in 24 matches. Weak teams are Mamas All-Stars and Cullinan. Mamas All-Stars are in position 10 with 31 points in 23 games while Cullinan fight to avoid relegation in the second spot from the bottom of the log. Cullinan have 17 points in 23 games.
Based on the fixture, except for their match against Maritimo, Pretoria Athletic will play Mike One-Stars, log leaders Tshwane South College and Mountain Movers. Chillie Boys will face Cullinan, Mams All-Stars and Vikings. Touch will play Mamas All-Stars, Vikings and Ma-Lions. Except playing against Touch, Ma-Lions will face the University of Pretoria and Tshwane United.
The Hatfield outfit endured two humiliating defeats that saw them moving away from their dream top four. Mike One-Stars and Tshwane South College thrashed them 5-0 and 4-0 respectively earlier this month.
The defeats, together with three points freely acquired by each of their rivals, including Ma-Lions, Touch and Chillie Boys, saw Maritimo dropping from position six in the log standings to eight.
These rival teams, currently occupying positions five to seven in the log standings, were awarded the points as a result of the Safa Tshwane Competition Committee’s decision to terminate Liverpool’s participation in the Men’s Regional League following their failure to attend three of their matches.
This led to a total of four teams including Tshwane United to be given a total of 12 points through walkovers.
Only the three points acquired by Tshwane United did not have any negative effect on Maritimo’s position in the log standings as they are far below Maritimo in the log. They are in position 13 with 20 points.
Sihlangu said their next match against Pretoria Athletic will serve as a decider whether they would meet their objective or not.
The Hatfield outfit will go to the match revived after beating Mountain Movers 2-1 in their sizzling match at Maritimo sports ground last Saturday. The victory was important for players to gain confidence after losing two previous consecutive games.
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