SuperSport United captain Onismor Bhasera is confident his team can clinch a positive result in the Tshwane derby on Tuesday night.
Matsantsantsa a Pitori travel to Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria to face their near unstoppable rivals Mamelodi Sundowns in a match that will kick off at 19:30.
SuperSport’s recent form has not been impressive as they’ve only managed one win in their last five league encounters.
Playing against the runaway DStv Premiership log leaders away won’t be an easy task for United, as Sundowns have now gone 41 games undefeated in the league since last season.
The Gavin Hunt-coached side are in fourth place on the log with 32 points and a win in tonight’s clash might see them move back to second on the table.
Skipper Onismor Bhasera reckons sticking to their game plan and avoiding schoolboy errors will increase their chances of getting a positive result at Loftus.
“Everything has been alright (though there have been some) ups and downs in terms of results, I think it felt like we should have collected maximum points playing at home against AmaZulu and even against Cape Town City, we worked very hard in those games but ended up coming away with a point,” Bhasera said.
“So, going into a big match such as the Tshwane derby, I don’t think anyone needs a reminder of how important it is the match.
“We are looking forward to it and the guys know the importance of the game, they know we need points.
“It’s going to be very important (to get the results), but you know how derbies are you know the best performing team wins on the day.
“We have to go out there and make sure we work as a team and apply everything we have been working on.
“When we go out there we need to make sure we maintain the bar and apply ourselves very well as the coach’s instructions I think we will come out with something,” he added.
SuperSport’s defence has been at the centre of their problems as they’ve struggled to keep a clean sheet in all the games they’ve played this year.
Hunt’s men have leaked seven goals in their last six matches across all competitions.
“It will be something important for us to keep a clean sheet in this game and we are scoring right now, so we just need to be tight at the back and try not to concede.
“I don’t wanna call them silly goals but yeah it’s been kind of like goals which we could have avoided and we end up chasing the game because of such goals,” he concluded.
The last time SuperSport won a Tshwane derby was on 2 September 2022 when they claimed a 2-1 victory at the Lucas Masterpieces Moripe Stadium.
Written by Ayanda Vezi