Tuesday Aug 16, 2022. 11:00
Cape Town City will chase their first points of the 2022-23 season when the DStv Premiership continues with two matches on Tuesday 16 and Wednesday 17 August.
City – last term’s runners-up – find themselves bottom of the log after three straight losses to Mamelodi Sundowns, Swallows FC and AmaZulu. They are the only team yet to record a point in the Premiership since the start of the new campaign earlier this month.
The Citizens have not played particularly badly in any of their matches, but the aggravating habit of costly individual errors has stymied their hopes of getting off to a fast start, and they will need to set things right when host Maritzburg (who themselves are seeking a first win of 2022-23) at Athlone Stadium on Tuesday evening.
“Individual errors let us down [against AmaZulu], that’s just the harsh reality,” admitted Cape Town coach Eric Tinkler.
His counterpart at the Team of Choice, John Maduka, felt his side took a big step forward in their goalless stalemate with Swallows on the weekend.
“I think we dominated the game, what we just needed is that goal but unfortunately today it didn’t come,” said the United boss. “But there’s so much improvement comparing to the game we played against Kaizer Chiefs [last midweek].”
Wednesday’s match sees Royal AM welcome Orlando Pirates to Moses Mabhida Stadium, with both clubs looking to bounce back from weekend defeats: the former succumbed 3-1 away to Stellenbosch FC, while the latter were beaten 1-0 at home by Chippa United.
Both Thwihli Thwahla and the Buccaneers have ambitions of challenging for the upper regions of the table this season, but will need to step up their level of performance – starting with this midweek clash in Durban.
“Just improve the finishing, maybe we need to grow a bit more confidence in the last minutes that’s the key,” said Pirates coach Jose Riveiro in the wake of a defeat to the Chilli Boys in which they were the dominant force, but ultimately conceded a late goal.
“We can face the game creating clear chances and when we do that we’re always going to be close to winning. We have to improve what we’re doing and improve in the last minutes, like I said maybe it’s a question of confidence but it will come.”
DStv Premiership midweek fixtures
Tuesday 16 August
19:30: Cape Town City v Maritzburg United
Wednesday 17 August
19:30: Royal AM v Orlando Pirates
Postponed:
Mamelodi Sundowns v AmaZulu
Chippa United v Marumo Gallants
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