Pressure on Chippa United to pick up where they left off last season

23 August 2016 - 13:32 By Mark Gleeson

Chippa United’s success last season means that the expectations on coach Dan Malesela and his squad will be ratcheted up for the new Premier Soccer League campaign‚ putting unwitting pressure on a club still seeking to find its feet in the top-flight. The Port Elizabeth outfit host Free State Stars at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Tuesday night in their opening game of the new season.They will hope to keep up the strong form that characterised their end to the last campaign. They have not lost at home in the league since January.But the lengthy break could well have broken the momentum.Stars will have a new look about their squad after a fire sale of their best players in the off-season which precipitated the planned purchase of the club by a Johannesburg consortium of Moroka Swallows fans.But when that did not materialise‚ Stars had to scurry to get their pre-season preparations back on track and build a new team.How successful they have been in trying to patch up the obvious holes will be eagerly awaited in their first outing of the new season‚ which is also the first for their new French coach.Frenchman Dennis Lavagne‚ who had a brief stint as coach of Cameroon‚ is likely in for a baptism of fire.Chippa will be without new signing Menzi Masuku‚ who was at the Olympic Games and only arrived in the Eastern Cape at the weekend after a brief break.One result is not likely on Tuesday night – none of the six previous meetings between the two clubs have ended in draws...

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