“We’ll treat every playoff game as a cup final’, declares award-winning Tuks defender

University of Pretoria defender Keegan Allan says they will treat their last three remaining PSL promotional/relegation playoff games as cup finals to ensure they return to the South African topflight next season.

AmaTuks, who missed out on automatic promotion after finishing second in the GladAfrica Championship, started the playoffs on a good note, defeating Cape Town All Stars 3-1 on Sunday at Athlone Stadium.

“Our focus now is only on the PSL promotional playoffs; we got a huge task ahead of us; that’s coming out victorious. We got a good result away from home against a great side Cape Town All Stars; that’s a great start we wanted,” Allan told FARPost.

“Now our attention is on the other three cup finals left, which are must-wins. We were disappointed not to get the automatic promotion; this is our only shot left to return to the Premiership.”

“The mood in the camp is great; even before Sunday’s victory, the boys are confident, focused and in high spirits. We believe in ourselves, and the coaches believe we can pull through.”

The former Mamelodi Sundowns DStv Diski Challenge player reacted to winning the award at the 2022 PSL Awards on Sunday.

“It’s an awesome feeling to win the Nedbank Cup Most Promising Player award; I faced great competition from other nominees. I give thanks to the technical team and my teammates because I couldn’t have succeeded without them helping me out on the pitch.”

The 21-year-old confirmed to FARPost that no DStv Premiership side have inquired about his services, saying, ‘it’s just rumoured’ after being linked with Orlando Pirates. AmaTuks will be aiming to make it two out of two when they face Swallows FC at Dobsonville Stadium on Wednesday.