Venda Football Academy (VFA) have reason to believe that they will manage to deposit at least one point into their league account when they host Polokwane City in their Limpopo derby at the Thohoyandou Stadium on Sunday afternoon. They need to collect whatever points are available, since only seven matches remain in the Motsepe Foundation Championship League.
This will be the second home match for VFA in a row, after they had played against JDR Stars at the same venue on Wednesday afternoon. (The result of their midweek match was not available at the time of our going to press).
Judging from the team's performance in last Saturday's Nedbank Cup game against Orlando Pirates, Polokwane City will clearly be lucky if by chance they manage to go back home with a point in hand. VFA managed to match Pirates pound for pound throughout the game, making it difficult for the Buccaneers to enjoy the game.
The head coach of VFA, Mr Joel Masutha, is adamant that not only will his team escape the relegation axe, but they will finish their league programme in a respectable position on the log standings.
Although they will be playing in front of their home crowd, for VFA to grab the full points at stake will not be easy. City, or Rise and Shine as they are affectionately called, are currently shining on top of the log. Stopping VFA's strikers, Edmore Chirambadara, Babatunde Adepoju and Lerato Mofokeng, will not be an easy task for the defenders of City.
City will pin their hopes on Puleng Marema, Simon Ramabu and Stevens Goovadia for goals. Goovadia is the team's leading goal scorer with five goals. Should they fail to win the match and Casric Stars manage to beat Black Leopards, City will drop to the second position on the log standings, while Casric Stars will move to the top of the log.