Chiefs badly in need of a turning point against City‚ admits Khune

29 November 2016 - 13:44 By Marc Strydom

Kaizer Chiefs captain Itumeleng Khune has admitted that the team are in need of a turning point‚ and that their Premier League fixture against Cape Town City at FNB Stadium on Tuesday night would be a good place for it to come. Chiefs are on a five-match winless streak. Worse still‚ that slump has also seen the team who finished trophy-less last season knocked out of the second of the three cup competitions.Amakhosi have just the league and Nedbank Cup left to play for in 2016-17 if they are to avoid an unprecedented second season in succession without silverware.There is a long way to go in the season. Much can happen. Chiefs – as they did in a period where they went six matches unbeaten from mid-September to late October – can hit their stride again.A win against high-riding City – avenging a 1-0 MTN8 quarterfinal defeat at Cape Town Stadium at the start of the season – would go a long way to restoring some confidence for a Chiefs side who have looked notably bereft of it in the past few weeks. “We are looking at the game tomorrow as a turning point. We have to get back to winning ways‚” Bafana Bafana’s stalwart goalkeeper Khune said.“We are aware of City and their form‚ and we anticipate a good challenge from them. They deserve the credit and respect. They have been consistent‚ but they must know that we are playing at home.“We are professionals and we will get through this slump. If you check‚ in some of the games that we failed to win‚ we played well. We just couldn't covert our chances.”City are in second place in the PSL in a remarkable start for a brand new team‚ since former Ajax Cape Town boss John Comitis bought the franchise of Mpumalanga Black Aces in the off-season.Coach Eric Tinkler has made clever use of the core of the Aces team that finished fourth last season‚ notably the on-form Lebogang Manyama‚ and also trusted performers such as Aubrey Ngoma‚ Mpho Matsi‚ Bhongolwethu Jayiya and Vincent Kobola. Foreigners such as Australian Matt Sim and Austrian Roland Putcshe have brought muscle to the midfield. In the absence of suspended centre-backs Tshepo Gumede and Robyn Johannes‚ Ghanaian youth international Joseph Adjei came in and performed well in City’s 4-1 Telkom Knockout demolition of Free State Stars on Saturday.Chiefs will be wary of the temperamental but potentially deadly ex-Amakhosi and Orlando Pirates striker Lehlohonolo Majoro.Comitis and his ex-Bafana midfield hard man coach have breathed life into the colours and badge of a side that was once a bastion of white football in the old National Football League‚ winning that title in 1973 and 1976‚ and a total of 10 trophies in that decade.The Soweto giants will need to be more convincing if they are to match Tinkler’s attacking‚ exciting City at FNB on Tuesday night. – TMG Sport..

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