Leopards have ‘no room for sentiment’ if they relegate Stars

Black Leopards players have been training under lights in preparation for their crunch Premier Soccer League (PSL) promotion-relegation playoff encounter against Platinum Stars at Moruleng Stadium on Saturday night.

The all-important match is scheduled for 8.15pm and Leopards coach Joel Masutha decided to prepare at night so that his players can get used to the evening conditions.

“For the entire regular league season that has just ended‚ we did not play even a single match at night‚” he said on Friday morning.

“Most of the players in the team do not have experience of playing at night but we trained the whole week under the lights so that they get used to the conditions.

“At night the ball moves faster and the lighting may affect you if you are not used to it‚” he said‚ adding that the players enjoyed their sessions.

“As we continued with our work this week‚ I noticed that the players were enjoying the training sessions and at one stage they did not want to stop.

“That is the spirit that we have in this camp and as a coach it gives confidence that they will be ready to tackle whatever Platinum throw at us.

“We have done our homework and I believe that the conditions there will suit us.”

Dikwena will be relegated to the National First Division (NFD) if they lose to Leopards on Saturday.

Masutha said Leopards are not going to the North West to worry about sentiments as they have promotion ambitions of their own.

“I know very well that Stars will be relegated if they lose to us but we are going there to do a job‚ which is to promote Leopards to the PSL.

"It will be sad to see them be relegated but we have a job to do and that is the only thing on our mind going into the game‚” he said.

With the odds heavily stacked against Stars‚ their coach Roger de Sa has refused to throw in the towel.

“We have a great opportunity to get back into it this weekend against Leopards. If we get the three points against this weekend‚ I think it will be pretty even and it will go down to the last game‚” he said.

“Hopefully we can put in a good performance and turn the result. We always knew that we needed seven points in the playoffs because that is the amount that takes you through.”