Black Leopards head coach Joel Masutha has cracked the whip on his team, demanding nothing less than a win when they play Hungry Lions in the GladAfrica Championship at the Thohoyandou Stadium at 3.30pm tomorrow. 

Lidoda Duvha are rock-bottom of the second tier of SA football and in danger of sinking deeper into a place of no return. Since the league resumed they have only picked up one point of the nine that were available. 

The situation that the Venda club finds itself in is alarming and their mentor wants them to start winning immediately so they can have a chance to fight the drop with 10 games left. Leopards have picked up 15 points in 20 games. Masutha wants them to add three points to the tally with a win over Hungry Lions. 

“This, for us, is a six-pointer because we're left with 30 points to play for and we don't have much room for errors, we don't have room to lose games,” said Masutha. 

“And also for the boys to start believing they can achieve this survival, we need to win and the best way is to win at home. We went to Hungry Lions in the first round and we lost 2-0.  Now it's payback time. We can't go out and donate points and come back home and continue to donate points. 

“This, to be honest, is a must-win. The boys know what to expect, they know that anything less than a win won't be enough. Sometimes you do everything in football and find yourself on the losing side. I'm hopeful and very much confident we are going to turn the corner,” he said. 

Masutha knows that a win won't come easy against Hungry Lions, who have managed to stay afloat in the GladAfrica Championship. They are now in 10th place. 

“The way we have prepared this week, I'm 100% sure we're going to turn the corner against Hungry Lions. I know they are a stubborn team, hard-running and an awkward team to play against. 

“We have to make sure we get the result on Saturday [tomorrow] for us to start moving away from position 16,” said Masutha. 

Fixtures (all times 3.30pm) 

Friday: Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila v Pretoria Callies, Thohoyandou Stadium.

Saturday: Black Leopards v Hungry Lions, Thohoyandou Stadium; TS Sporting v Cape Town All Stars, Kabokweni Stadium; Uthongathi v Free State Stars, Sugar Ray Xulu Stadium; Richards Bay v Polokwane City, King Goodwill Zwelithini Stadium. 

Sunday: Venda Football Academy v JDR Stars, Thohoyandou Stadium; Platinum City Rovers v University of Pretoria, Olën Park; Cape Town Spurs v Jomo Cosmos, Athlone Stadium.