Chippa United players feeling the heat as relegation battle goes down to the wire

Chippa United players are feeling the heat as they go into the final match of the season staring down the barrel of automatic relegation to the Motsepe Foundation Championship. 

The situation is precarious for bottom of the log Chippa as they need a win or a draw against Golden Arrows to avoid automatic relegation. But Marumo Gallants will throw a spanner in the works if they beat Swallows in the other match of strugglers. 

“It is not easy considering the results of the match between Maritzburg and Sundowns which ended in a draw,” said veteran club midfielder Andile Mbenyane. 

“We are under more pressure for the upcoming game against Arrows at the weekend. But the coach has spoken to us, that we must not worry about the results of other teams.

“The only thing we need is to win on Saturday and maybe we will see ourselves out of the relegation zone or maybe we go to the play-offs. We can’t run away from that. 

“If we go to the play-offs, we have to go for it and work together as a team so that we keep the status of Chippa United in the Premier Soccer League.” 

Mbenyane said the pressure is getting to some of the young players in the team. 

“It is tough for these youngsters. But, as you saw in our game against Richards Bay, there youngster Aviwe Mqokozo scored a goal and it shows that he has a big heart. 

“We still have to push ourselves and once we start being worried more about the youngsters we will forget that we have to focus on playing and saving the club. 

“We have been pushing from the start of the season. It was after the World Cup where our performances started going down. I spoke to the guys; we have been playing well before the November break and we have to bring that back.”