City welcome Baroka to Cape Town eyeing premiership top spot

Cape Town City will tackle top-of-the-table Baroka FC in the Absa Premiership on Tuesday night with the chance to leapfrog their guests to the summit of the league for 24 hours at least.

The match will be played at what is expected to be a rain-soaked Cape Town Stadium with a 18h00 kick-off‚ a return to their main venue for City having endured the bumpy Athlone Stadium pitch in recent games.

It comes three weeks after their last match‚ a 1-0 victory over Free State Stars that snapped a four-game winless streak for coach Benni McCarthy’s side‚ and he was thankful for the rest they did have.

And he also cautions that talk of going top of the table to premature with the team having struggled to click into top gear in recent times.

“One step at a time‚ let’s not get ahead of ourselves‚” McCarthy said.

“We have just come from four losses and now there is already talk about third‚ second and first places.

“We are just going to continue‚ I know we had some setbacks but we will just keep rolling and fighting.”

McCarthy will have two experienced players back from injury in goalkeeper Shu-Aib Walters and winger Aubrey Ngoma‚ who finally makes a return after six months on the sidelines and several aborted comebacks.

“Aubrey is upbeat‚ he and I had a conversation where he said to me‚ 'I’m in the mood coach‚ I’m hungry’‚ and that’s what I wanted to hear‚” McCarthy said.

“He is looking good and has his hunger back. It will be a fantastic boost for the club‚ it’s like signing a new player.”

Nigerian forward Victor Obinna is likely to be sideliend for another two weeks though‚ which does leave a problem up from with Lehlohonolo Majoro having fallen out of favour and McCarthy critical of Letsie Koapeng in the past.

It may mean a rare start for Judas Moseamedi‚ which would be just his 14th in the PSL in two-and-a-half seasons.

Baroka beat City in Polokwane in the Telkom Knockout competition at the end of last month‚ but are in the midst of a four-game winless run in the league‚ with their early-season bubble having seemingly burst.

They won this fixture 2-1 in the last campaign‚ which ironically was the spark for a 10-game unbeaten run for City that culminated in them winning the Telkom Knockout.

Baroka’s outspoken coach Kgoloko Thobejane says his team are top of the league on merit and that they have no plans to give up their position.

"We are there in position number one at the moment and there is no reason for us to be afraid‚” he told reporters earlier this month.

"For us to keep our position we have to fight with everything that we have.

"There are people who said we are keeping the umbrella for someone there at the top but it has been a few months since the league campaign started.

“We want the league and we are number one. How many teams have played in top leagues for many years and have never been to number one?

"It is because they don’t believe they can be there.

"There are people who say at least I want to be number eight and what happens when you don’t get number eight‚ you will be last and chased down by the dogs.

"We are all in the PSL and why should we take the back seat?”

Victory at City would be a major statement from the Limpopo club and back up the fighting talk of their coach.