Tough road ahead for Leopards and TTM

With only seven matches remaining before the end of the current GladAfrica Championship League, the future of Black Leopards and Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila (TTM) is hanging by a thread. Black Leopards are languishing at the bottom of the log with 20 points, while TTM are in the 13^th position with 24 points.

A quick glance at the remaining fixtures for Lidoda duvha and Vhadau Vha Damani shows that the two teams must put extra effort into their remaining fixtures if they are serious about escaping the relegation axe at the end of the season.

Six of the seven teams that Black Leopards are left with are not certain about their future as affiliates in the GladAfrica Championship League. The only thing Black Leopards are consoling themselves with is the fact that four of their remaining fixtures will be played at home. Their remaining homes fixtures are Jomo Cosmos, TTM, Cape Town Spurs and Venda Football Academy. They will play against TS Sporting, Free State Stars and Platinum City Rovers away from home.

Their first home match will be against Jomo Cosmos, with whom they will lock horns at the Thohoyandou Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

TTM also have a mountain to climb in their remaining fixtures. Four of their remaining fixtures will be played away from home. They will entertain Free State Stars at the Thohoyandou Stadium on Friday night (1^st). Their other two home matches will be against Jomo Cosmos and Uthongathi FC. The four matches TTM will play away from home will be against Platinum City Rovers, Polokwane City, Cape Town All Stars and Black Leopards.

They will wrap up their league programme with an away fixture against Polokwane City at the Old Peter Mokaba Stadium on Sunday, 15 May.

The teams’ head coaches, Mr Joel “The Prophet” Masutha (Leopards) and Mr Lucky “King Mchichwa” Nelukau (TTM) are optimistic that their teams will collect enough points in their remaining fixtures to escape the relegation axe at the end of the season.

Date:31 March 2022

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.

Read: 789