Mdaka insists Gallants are not yet safe from relegation despite win at Chippa

Despite moving out of the relegation zone in the DStv Premiership following a 3-1 win over Chippa United at Peter Mokaba Stadium on Wednesday, Marumo Gallants caretaker coach Raymond Mdaka has warned that they are still far from being safe.

The win, courtesy of a hat-trick from Ranga Chivaviro, saw Gallants move from second from the bottom to 14th place with 27 points from 26 matches and are three ahead of Maritzburg United, who are now last and one ahead of Chippa, who dropped to second.

Etiosa Ighodaro had given the Chilli Boys a lead after the half-hour mark before Chivaviro scored his hat trick in the second half to give his side all maximum points in the relegation battle, but Mdaka insists they are not yet safe.

"Not yet because there is a team that will go for playoffs, we would like to see ourselves out of this situation all together," Mdaka told the media after the match.

"It is not that difficult. It will depend on whether we are collecting points or not because once we get another three points, you will see how far we go and then from there that's where we will say, let's keep the same character and the same spirit ... we can even go beyond eighth or so.

"The only challenge that we might have is how you maintain the recoveries, how you manage the players because we are playing back-to-back.

"But the most important thing is how you manage the players, how you manage the recoveries because you need the very same kind of players who have just played."

Mdaka was full of praise for Chivaviro following his hat trick. "These are the kind of players when you have them upfront there you always believe that at any given moment you can get a goal.

"So it gives you courage when you have those kinds of players in the team and I think he did very well."

Meanwhile, Chippa coach Siyabulela Gwambi remains optimistic that they will survive the chop as they have been in this situation before and know how to get out of it.

"As you know, we were playing against our direct competitors in terms of log standings. The outcome is not the desired results that we were looking for," he said.

"It puts us in a difficult position that we have to fight because they have jumped one spot ahead of us. But it is not the end of the world, we have been here before and we know how to do it."