Black Leopards on bumpy path for Premiership survival

With nine matches remaining before the league activities for the current soccer season come to an end, the race for the league title and to avoid the relegation axe is becoming hotter by the day. A quick glance at the remaining fixtures for Black Leopards shows that the local lads have a steep mountain to climb.

Only three of their nine remaining matches will be played at home. Lidoda Duvha will travel to Polokwane twice in a row. Their first trip will be on Sunday, 01 March, when they visit Polokwane City at the Peter Mokaba Stadium. They will come back home and rest for five days before undertaking another trip to Limpopo Province’s capital on Saturday, 7 March. This time around they will be paying a visit to Baroka FC, with whom they will lock horns at the same venue.

Instead of coming back home after their game against Baroka FC, Leopards will travel to Johannesburg for their midweek fixture against Bidvest Wits on Wednesday, 10 March.

Their first league match at home will be played about a month from now. They will host Maritzburg United on Saturday, 21 March. It will be followed by a trip to Durban, where they will test their strength against Lamontville Golden Arrows at the Princess Magogo Stadium on 5 April.

SuperSport United will be their second visitors on Saturday, 11 April. They will fly to Durban again for their match against Amazulu at the King Zwelithini Stadium on Sunday, 26 April.

Leopards’ last home match will be against Bidvest Wits on Wednesday, 5 May. Mamelodi Sundowns is the last name appearing on Lidoda Duvha’s hit list. They will rub shoulders at the Lucas Moripe Stadium outside Pretoria on Saturday, 9 May. Black Leopards are currently lying in the third position from the bottom of the log with 20 points gained from 21 matches and they are tied with Baroka FC, Polokwane City and Amazulu.

Mr Allan Clark, the caretaker coach of Leopards, is adamant that the Thohoyandou side will collect enough points in their remaining matches to retain their Absa Premiership franchise. The other relegation candidates are Chippa United Cape Town City and Bloemfontein Celtic.

The race for the league title is among Kaizer Chiefs, Orlando Pirates, Mamelodi Sundowns and Bidvest Wits. Kaizer Chiefs are on top of the log with 45 points.

Date:21 February 2020

By: Frank Mavhungu

Frank is a Human Resources Manager at the Department of Public Works in Limpopo. He is the longest serving correspondent of the Mirror, having joined us at the end of 1990.  He mainly writes sports reports and resides at Tsianda Village. In 2004, Frank won the National Castle League Award, an award for the best reporter in the SAB league in South Africa.

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