Cape Town - Cape Town City will look to revive their stuttering season when they host fifth place Orlando Pirates at the Cape Town Stadium on Saturday.
Eric Tinkler’s side head into the game 11th on the log with just 16 points. They have been unable to replicate their heroics from last season which saw them finish second and qualify for the CAF Champions League for the first time in their history.
The Citizens are 18 points adrift of top of the table Mamelodi Sundowns and another 10 points behind third place Richards Bay FC.
City have lost three out of their last five games which most recently included a 1-0 defeat to SuperSport United. The pressure is mounting on Tinkler to turn things around and following the defeat to Matsatsantsa he conceded that things are just not going according to plan.
“Maintaining possession is normally our strength. Normally by half-time, we have 300 successful passes and in this game we only managed to get just over 200 passes.
“Our possession stats were poor, passing accuracy was poor and that allowed SuperSport to come more and more into the game. We are supposed to be dominant at home in terms of possession, but that wasn’t the case. We struggled to link our play through the wide players. Our 10 and our 9 seemed to be going more sideways backwards, sideways backwards,” said Tinkler.
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The Cape’s other team, Stellenbosch FC have also struggled to build on their impressive fourth place finish last season. The loss of Ashley du Preez to Kaizer Chiefs appears to have taken a toll on Stellies who sit 13th in the league. Like City, Steve Barker’s side have also lost three out of their last five games.
They have also not won in seven games, with their last victory being their 2-1 away triumph over struggling Swallows in September last year.
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The erratic nature of this season means that Stellies can still potentially finish in the top eight or slip into a relegation battle. They are just two points clear of the relegation zone but at the same time, are also two points behind eighth place TS Galaxy whom they face at the Mbombela Stadium on Sunday.
With their next three games being against TS Galaxy, Marumo Gallants and Sekhukhune United, Barker’s side have a perfect opportunity to now kick-start their season.
IOL Sport