Durban - Kaizer Chiefs defender Happy Mashiane believes that his side will be looking to gain revenge over Royal AM, a team that mauled them 4-1 in the last encounter between the teams back in September.
“It was not a nice feeling losing against them. It was an embarrassment for us because we know that we are playing for a big team and cannot afford to concede four goals in a game at home. Going to them, we have to fight to ensure that the same thing that happened previously does not happen again,” said Mashiane.
Chiefs recently experienced a crisis of their own. They were forced to miss their fixtures against Cape Town City and Golden Arrows owing to a Covid-19 outbreak within their squad. However, they did return to the field of play for their most recent fixture against Sekhukhune United which they won 2-0 through goals from Nkosingiphile Ngcobo and Phathushedzo Nange.
The win over Sekhukhune took Chiefs back to second place in the log.
Mashiane believes that his side have played well this season following their frustrating form last season which saw them finish eighth.
“The start of the season was not nice considering that we were coming from a big setback. We started to pull together so that we could correct the wrongs that we did. The start of the season was not that great because you could see that people were still not okay following the setback,” said Mashiane.
Mashiane was one of the few bright youngsters to emerge in the Chiefs dugout last season as the Amakhosi were forced to hand opportunities to youth in lieu of their transfer ban. He earned a rare start against Sekhukhune and is relishing the prospect of more game time as the season progresses.
“Playing is a nice feeling. It’s been a while and I’m glad that I finally got some minutes. I have to be consistent and work hard so that I can get more game time. I will take it one game at a time and make sure that I do my level best,” said Mashiane.
The game against Royal AM will be Chiefs’ penultimate of the season before they conclude the year with a home clash against former coach Ernst Middendorp’s Maritzburg United.
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