JOHANNESBURG – Marooned at the foot-end of the Absa Premiership table with 17 points, relegation doubts are likely to creep in but 'Dikwena' defender Gift Sithole says there’s no way Roger De Sa’s men can surrender.
“It’s tough but I think we still need to focus. We still have a chance. We haven’t played the last match as yet. We must try to win the next game at all costs. Honestly, the guys are down but as senior players, we have to lift their spirits. I have a belief that we still have a chance. We haven’t been relegated. We can make it. One win is going to open a lot of things for us,” said Sithole.
In the last two matches, Dikwena's defence came under fire after Maritzburg United and Free State Stars came from behind to win 2-1 respectively. Sithole, who scored in the loss against Stars, says Dikwena will put on some work to resolve their defensive shortfalls.
“As a defender, I feel bad. If you check most of the games, we conceded in the last 15 minutes of the match. I feel bad because we don’t concentrate. It’s something we will work on because we always try our best every time we play,” said Sithole.
Sithole and his colleagues will also have to up their offensive game since they have not been getting enough goals to win matches.
“We also have to fix our goal scoring problems. Everyone who gets a chance should just score. The teams we play against they create four chances and score two and we lose the game. Sometimes we get close to eight chances in the first half but we don’t score out of those.
"It’s worrying. It’s painful that we play well but we lose. We have two weeks to prepare for the Bloemfontein Celtic game. I think there’s something good that can come out,” said the tough as nails defender.
Dikwena’s next league assignment is a clash away to Bloemfontein Celtic on March 18.