Hungry Lions fill JDR's Nemasisi with trepidation

JDR Stars owner-coach Nditsheni Nemasisi has told why facing fellow second-tier side Hungry Lions in the last 32 of the Nedbank Cup fazes him, insisting he’d have preferred a DStv Premiership opponent.

JDR and Lions, who are separated by three points on the Motsepe Foundation Championship (MFC) table, clash in the first round of the Ke Yona competition at Soshanguve Stadium on Friday (3pm). JDR are behind Lions on the table, occupying the seventh spot while Nemasisi’s boys are ninth.

“I’d have wished for a different opponent from a different league either from the DStv Premiership or lower league. Reason being just in a month’s time we are playing them again in a very important game for us in the league, so this game makes it a bit difficult in a sense that we will still play them away in the league. Repeating opponents in a space of a month will always be challenging,” Nemasisi said yesterday.

“We know each other. I know what they will bring. This cup must give us opportunities to learn, especially against DStv Premiership teams, hence I’d have preferred to play a team from the top-flight. It is an interesting game for us. It’s not going to be an easy one.”

Nemasisi is also disconcerted by the fact that Lions always give them a hard time. Lions have already beaten JDR 2-1 in the league this season. The two sides meet again in the MFC in Lions’ backyard in the league on April 3.

“Lately, they are really punishing us. I don’t know how but it’s something that we will keep trying to rectify. If you go back to our history against Hungry Lions, when we got promoted [in 2019] in Cape Town we beat them 3-0 [in the semifinals of the Motsepe National Play-offs] and in this league. We’ve only beaten them once and they’ve beaten us three times,” Nemasisi said.