Sekhukhune United head coach Eric Tinkler reckons AmaZulu, Kaizer Chiefs, TS Galaxy and themselves will have a say in the Betway Premiership title race.
Babina Noko find themselves in third place just six points behind league leaders Orlando Pirates.
Tinkler’s side still have 36 points to play for which could take them to 68 points if they win all their games and surpass his target of 54 points.
Speaking with the media in the Nedbank Cup presser, Tinkler mentioned that Chiefs, AmaZulu and Galaxy will have a say when it comes to who wins the league.
“I don’t think the league is over yet. In my view, I was talking to you now about some of the players on the conditioning and how they struggle with the little bit that I saw last night because we’re living in Joburg, so we have power cuts here,” Tinkler told the media.
“I didn’t see much of the second half, but I saw players cramping from [Mamelodi] Sundowns. And why is that? It’s the hectic schedule that they have, and somewhere along the line that’s going to affect them.
“Now it’s gonna be about are teams gonna be able to take points off them. Are they beatable? Yes, they are. But you can’t deny the quality that they have, and people might say they were lucky last night.
“I don’t see it as luck. I think it’s the quality that they have. That’s why they win and if you go to their results last season and the season before, wasn’t like they were beating people, 2-0, 3-0, 4-0. They were winning 1-0, consistently scoring 90th minute, 88th minute. It’s the quality that they possess. I think Pirates is a lot closer, and I think Pirates will still have a lot to say about it, but I think ourselves, Chiefs, AmaZulu, TS Galaxy, we also going to have something to say about it, you know.
“So, I think it’s going to be a lot tighter. The gap is not gonna to be as big as it was in previous seasons. I think the gap is going to get closed. And I said this at the beginning of the season, my target points wise was 54 points. Sekhukhune as a club, the highest points was last season on 48 that the club had ever achieved, and we finished 4th. The season I finished second at Cape Town City was 48 points. The season that I finished third at Cape Town City was 53 points.
“But I firmly believe that 54 points you’ll be in the top three, 48 to 54 points might not sound like a lot, but believe in me, it’s massive. It’s a massive, massive jump. And in my view, that would be positive, even if we don’t finish third, even if it means we finish fourth to have achieved that points tally means we we’re moving in the right direction. We’re looking to close that gap between ourselves and Sundowns, so for me, I look at the league that way. Every game I go into I want to win. Maybe that’s my biggest downfall.
“Is that I think I can beat everyone, but that’s the way I am. It’s about trying to collect the three points. It’s about every five games segment. Can we ensure we collect nine points from those five games, and then it becomes difficult. Sometimes, like the period where we went through poor results, it means we have to play catch up first eight games way above the nine-point total, but we had to play catch up. Now you go one, two points behind that target. Next game becomes important. And the next game for us, for example, I need at least four points from my next two league games.
“That first league game is again Sundowns, so I have to go into that game thinking, I need the three points against Sundowns. It’s as simple as that.”
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