Lions roar back into promotion hunt

Hungry Lions coach Henry Basie says their 2-1 win over Polokwane City at the weekend was important for them to keep in touch with the promotion-chasing pack in the Motsepe Championship Foundation.

The Northern Cape club are in now in fourth place with 34 points, below third placed Cape Town Spurs and second placed City, both with 40 points.

Following City’s fall at Windhoek Draught Park in Kimberly, Casric Stars are now new log-leaders with 41 points while the race for promotion has become wide open.

“It was important for us to win this one; we are struggling to find our feet on the road compared to at home where we are doing well. I think it’s the number of supporters behind the team,” said Basie.

“On Sunday I needed the boys to step up because for us to compete we needed to win to stay close. If Polokwane had got the three points against us the gap would have been so big, they would have stretched it to nine points, but now it’s still six points.”

The marathon in the league continues for Lions as they have two home games this week. They welcome All Stars tomorrow and Spurs on Saturday.

“We have to keep our heads low and feet down and hopefully, we can get closer to competing. We still need to do a little bit better.

“These games are key, it’s top of the table clashes. It’s going to be tough but we also need to come to the party, we’ll see on Wednesday and Saturday how far we can go,” Basie said. 

NFD results

Platinum City Rovers 1-0 Uthongathi, Casric Stars 2-1 JDR Stars, Cape Town Spurs 2-1 Black Leopards, NB La Masia 0-0 TTM, Baroka 2-1 Pretoria University, Venda FA 0-1 All Stars, Magesi 1-2 Pretoria Caillies, Hungry Lions 2-1 Polokwane City.

NFD fixtures (all times 3.30pm)

Tomorrow: NB La Masia v Pretoria University, Tsakane Stadium; Venda FA v Casric Stars, Thohoyandou Stadium; Magesi v Polokwane City, Old Peter Mokaba Stadium; Platinum City Rovers v JDR Stars, Olen Park; Pretoria Caillies v Black Leopards, Lucas Masterpieces Moripe Stadium; Baroka v Cape Town Spurs, Baroka Village; Hungry Lions v All Stars, Windhoek Draught Park Stadium; TTM v Uthongathi, Dr Molemela Stadium.