Mcelwa Nchabeleng

Mcelwa Nchabeleng

The coaches of relegation-threatened Black Leopards and Maritzburg United are still entertaining hopes their sides will survive, and their optimism should make their Castle Premiership meeting at Thohoyandou Stadium today an enthralling affair.

Kickoff is at 3.45pm.

Leopards coach Hans-Dieter Schmidt and his counterpart at United Heric Vladislav declared yesterday that their teams would still be campaigning in the top flight next season.

But many people can easily dismiss such comments as mere trivial talk if the position of their teams on the log is anything to go by.

The Team of Choice are third from the bottom, while Lidoda Duvha are second from the basement.

Though Vladislav is hopeful that he will succeed in Thohoyandou, they will certainly not find it easy against Leopards, who have shown maturity under Schmidt's guidance.

But Vladislav has the right frame of mind going to Thohoyandou, though, because he does not want to be fooled by Leopards' two consecutive defeats against Orlando Pirates.

Said Schmidt: "This is a match we can't afford to lose and we will apply all the tricks in the book to win.

Said Vladislav: "We are going out there with one thing in mind, to win."