Indy's football scribes polish their crystal balls

CAPE TOWN – As the 2017/18 Premier Soccer League (PSL) season draws to a close, our writers are feasting on large helpings of humble pie - their predications having generally gone pear-shaped, as they usually do.

Granted Mazola Molefe, Njabulo Ngidi and Minenhle Mkhize correctly predicted that Mamelodi Sundowns would win the league and they are prancing about thinking of themselves as Credo Mutwas of sorts.

Not so our coastal correspondents in Durban’s Kamlesh Gosai and Rodney Reiners of Cape Town, who had dared to predict Bidvest Wits would retain their title. What were they thinking?

Incredibly, all of our writers predicted that Baroka FC would be automatically relegated. Yet, while they might still go down, as they could finish 15th and go into the play-offs, Bakgaga have ensured the scribes were left with eggs all over their faces. The embarrassment of automatic relegation was actually suffered by Platinum Stars, whose coach Peter Butler was rightly chosen by Molefe and Ngidi as the first coach to be fired.

The top scorer award is always a difficult one to call in the PSL and once again our writers missed the mark. All of Jeremy Brockie, James Keene and Gabadinho Mhango will be nowhere near the Lesley Manyathela award that will go to either of Polokwane City’s Rodney Ramagalela or Mamelodi Sundowns’ Percy Tau, who is also a firm favourite for the Footballer of the Year award, and was picked by at least two of our writers for that honour.

It is in calling the winners of the cup competitions where our writers will really have to invest in new crystal balls though.

Only Ngidi correctly picked SuperSport United for the MTN8 title and Reiners was alone in rightly predicting Wits would walk away with the Telkom Knockout. The less said about the Nedbank Cup - whose final is to be contested by Maritzburg United and Free State Stars - the better, for chances are even these two clubs themselves would not have raised their hands as potential champions.

But they are suckers for punishment our writers, and ahead of the final week of the league season, they again put their heads on the block with more predications.

Do you agree with them?

Let us know on twitter @extrastrongsa and @IOLsport