University of Pretoria head coach Tlisane Motaung remains hopeful of automatic promotion to the DStv Premiership despite trailing by two points to log leaders Richards Bay.
AmaTuks played a dramatic 2-all draw against Cape Town Spurs last weekend in a match where the medical team had to make remedial efforts to stop the stomach bug nightmare, which resulted in the Pretoria based side not having a full complement of their squad.
“Firstly, in our previous game against Cape Town Spurs, our players and technical team had a stomach bug, the moment we arrived at the hotel, and we ate supper, that’s where the problem began. If you watched the match, you would have seen that Frank Mpedi was substituted in the 9th minute because he couldn’t hold it,” Motaung tells FARPost.
Although the chances of promotion have become increasingly thin for the 38-year-old, he stresses that anything is ‘possible in football’. “We’ve seen strange things happen, so ours is just to go there and win the game; everything else will take care of itself,” added the confident Motaung.
The Tuks trainer weighs in on the change of fortunes after the club was in the bottom half of the table in the season’s first round.
“I think changing the style of play helped us a lot because the AmaTuks was playing more with build-up play under the previous coach (Zipho Dlangalala), and we changed that and started playing high up in the pitch, and it has benefited the team,” concluded the Free State-born mentor.
Sunday [3pm kick-off for all games]: Cape Town All Stars v JDR Stars [Idas Valley Sports Ground]; Richards Bay v Cape Town Spurs [King Goodwill Zwelithini Stadium]; Pretoria Callies v Jomo Cosmos [Lucas Masterpieces Moripe Stadium]; Venda Football Academy v Free State Stars [Thohoyandou Stadium]; Platinum City Rovers v Black Leopards [Profert Olën Park]; University of Pretoria v Hungry Lions [Tuks Stadium]; Polokwane City v Tshakhuma [Old Peter Mokaba Stadium]; Uthongathi v TS Sporting [Princess Magogo Stadium].
