Makhoye concerned about Orbit's poor home form

Orbit College coach Pogiso Makhoye has urged his side to improve their home record if they are to stand a chance of winning automatic promotion or going to the playoffs.

Orbit, who are now second in the Motsepe Foundation Championship (MFC) table and five points behind leaders Durban City after beating fellow title-chasers Milford 2-1 at the weekend, have won only three of their eight home games with three draws and two defeats.

“We are not doing well at home and that's a concern if we want to win promotion. I have stressed it so many times with the players that winning home games is important if you want to win the league or get a play-off spot,'' Makhoye told Sowetan yesterday.

“When you look at our last 12 league fixtures, you'll see that we have difficult fixtures ahead. We still have to play teams like Spurs, who are fighting for their lives, and against the likes of Durban City, who are our direct competition for the title, so to win the battle we need to make sure we get wins when we play at home.”

As they are not involved in the Nedbank Cup after they were eliminated by Kruger in the preliminary round, Orbit's next game will only be on February 23 at home to Casric Stars. Makhoye has welcomed this period of inactivity, saying it'll help injured players heal.

“I am happy that we will have more than 10 days until our next fixture because we have a few players who are struggling with injuries, so this time will help them heal.

"Reotshepile Letlhake and Olaoleng Mokgosi are two of our players who have niggling injuries. We have never beaten Casric, so we need to have our full squad against them because we want to get our first-ever win against them,'' the Orbit trainer stated. 

Results

Durban 1-0 Venda; Kruger 1-1 Casric; Leopards 3-0 Spurs; JDR 0-0 Highbury; Pretoria 1-2 Upington; Milford 1-2 Orbit; Lions 2-0 Leruma; Baroka 1-1 AmaTuks

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