Baroka aims to avoid promotional play-offs

The management of Baroka Football Club has promised fans and supporters of the team that they will win their last match of the Premier Soccer League (PSL) season against Super Sport United Football Club scheduled for 12 May in Pretoria in order to avoid the promotional play-offs.
Baroka needed a victory against Bloemfontein Celtic Football Club on Saturday but they held to a 1-1 draw by the Bloemfontein outfit at the Peter Mokaba Stadium.
The result puts Baroka in 12th position of the League with 34 points and defeat against Super Sport United could see them fighting for their PSL status in the PSL promotional play-offs scheduled for the third week of May .
Chief Executive Officer, Morgan Mammilla is positive about the team’s chances against Super Sport saying: “We beat them 3-1 last year in our home match. I think we can do it again. They are in a precarious position and they are under pressure and normally when teams are under pressure, they panic and don’t perform well. We will go Lucas Moripe Stadium and fight for those points.”
Baroka started the season well but faltered after the departure of their former coach, Kgoloko Thobejane. After seven rounds of matches‚ they were the leading pack of the PSL standings with 15 points.
Mammilla says Thobejane’s departure had nothing with their bad spell in the league. “I don’t think it is about Kgoloko, he was not even winning matches. The league is just competitive and this season was remarkable. Football is about luck, there are matches that we lost which we felt we could have won so it not about Thobejane,” Mammilla said.

Story and photos: Herbert Rachuene
>>herbert.observer@gmail.com