2024/25 Betway Premiership
Matchday 5
25-27 October 2024
Mamelodi Sundowns are facing early pressure from Orlando PIrates in the battle to be crowned 2024-25
Betway Premiership champions, with both teams boasting a perfect record thus far.
Sundowns head to the Old Peter Mokaba Stadium for a clash with Polokwane City on Sunday, October 27 bidding to stay at the top of the table.
Bafana ba Style were momentarily knocked off the summit by Pirates, who beat SuperSport United 2-0 on Tuesday, October 22 to maintain their perfect start to the season.
Manqoba Mngqithi's side responded though, as they record a 2-1 victory over Royal AM on Wednesday, October 23 to reclaim top spot on goal difference ahead of Pirates.
But Mngqithi was far from happy with their finishing, having seen the Brazilians open the scoring after just six minutes but only wrapping the game up in the 85th minute.
"I think we started the game very well but we were very untidy in the final third, we made a lot of silly mistakes. We could've wrapped up the game in the first half, we had better opportunities to do that, the final pass, that final decision, a flick pass, casual and that cost us the game," he told SuperSport.
"Because we could have easily scored a lot of goals in this match had we taken our chances earlier and that for me is the downside of this game but otherwise the boys played well, it's just that their untindiness made it a little bit difficult because at the end they could have easily scored from that header and then what?"
Rise And Shine will be hard-pressed to snap a two-match winless run in the league, although they did give Sundowns a scare in the MTN8 quarter-finals after taking them to extra time before succumbing to a 1-0 defeat.
Phuti Mohafe's side drew 1-1 with Stellenbosch most recently and they are in a four-way tie with the Maroons (3rd), Sekhukhune United (4th) and Chippa United (6th) on seven points in fifth place.
Elsewhere, Stellies will look to keep the momentum going when they face Richards Bay at the King Goodwill Zwelithini Stadium on Saturday, October 26.
Steve Barker's side began their campaign with a disappointing 2-0 loss to Golden Arrows, but they've picked up seven points from their next three outings, with a 2-0 win over Chippa United on Wednesday, October 23 lifting them up to third in the standings.
The Natal Rich Boys have only collected one point from their last three outings since making a winning start under Brandon Truter when they edged TS Galaxy 1-0 on the opening weekend of the new campaign.
A 1-0 reverse to Pirates on September 29 left them two points outside the top eight in 10th position, which sees them in a five-way tie with Royal AM (9th), Cape Town City (11th), Magesi (12th) and SuperSport United (13th) on four points.
Meanwhile, Cape Town City will be aiming to build on their first win of the season when they host newly-promoted Magesi at Athlone Stadium on Sunday, October 27.
The Citizens kicked off proceedings with a 1-1 draw against Royal AM and they suffered a resounding 3-0 defeat to local rivals Stellenbosch next up, leading to scathing criticism from Eric Tinkler.
However, Tinkler got the reaction he was hoping for as City bounced back with a 1-0 win against SuperSport on September 28 to take them clear of the relegation zone up to 11th position.
Tinkler revealed that he used the international break to good effect as he had virtually a full squad to work with on the areas that needed improving.
"We had the international break, and that can kill the momentum a little bit because once you start, you look to build on performances going forward," he said.
"You have to live with international breaks, and we were fortunate enough that the only players who had call-ups were the two Namibians. This was an opportunity to work on certain areas of our game that needed work.
"Also, there was a little bit of a focus on the mindset of the team and the players. There were some team-building exercises too."
Dikwena tsa Meetse are starting to believe that they can go toe-to-toe with the best teams in the country after dumping Pirates out of the Carling Knockout following a surprise 3-2 victory on October 19.
Clinton Larsen's side were handed back-to-back losses by Sekhukhune United and Polokwane City in the opening two matches, but they registered a historic 1-0 win against Golden Arrows on September 26 before playing out to a 0-0 draw with Royal AM two days later.
Betway Premiership matchday 5 fixtures:
Friday, October 25
19h30: Orlando Pirates v AmaZulu
Saturday, October 26
15h00: Richards Bay v Stellenbosch
15h00: Marumo Gallants v TS Galaxy
15h00: Royal AM v Sekhukhune United
17h30: SuperSport United v Kaizer Chiefs
20h00: Chippa United v Golden Arrows
Sunday, October 27
15h00: Polokwane City v Mamelodi Sundowns
15h00: Cape Town City v Magesi
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