As clubs in the Motsepe Foundation Championship head into their final five matches of the season this weekend, Soccer Laduma looks at who has the best chance of winning promotion to the DStv Premiership.
Casric Stars have made an incredible rise to the top of the Championship standings, going on a 15 match unbeaten run which has seen them take a three point lead at the summit, ahead of second-placed Polokwane City and third-placed Cape Town Spurs, who are both on 47 points.
READ: Klate On Mpengesi: Sometimes He Acts On Emotion, But...
Casric, who were knocked out of the Nedbank Cup by Soweto giants Kaizer Chiefs in the last 16, bought the status of Free State Stars and they've only been beaten three times this season. At the moment, they are looking good for automatic promotion, but there are a few clubs who can mathematically still finish at the top. Here are the promotion contenders and and their remaining matches.
CASRIC STARS
In their last five matches of the campaign, Stars have more away games than they do at home. Their most difficult match in the remaining five of the season will be this weekend against third-placed Spurs in the Mother City. What should give Casric some hope is that Spurs have lost their last two matches, one of them in the Mother City against Pretoria Callies. The other defeat was against JDR Stars. A victory over Spurs would put Casric in a good position to win automatic promotion and, at the same time, derail Shaune Bartlett's side in their automatic promotion pursuit to get to the DStv Premiership. After facing Spurs, three of Casric's final four matches will be against clubs in the bottom half of the table, which should give them good reason to believe that they can collect maximum points and secure automatic promotion. The clubs they are going to face in the bottom half of the table are University of Pretoria (9th) and Venda Football Academy, while they are also set to take on sixth-placed All Stars and Callies, who are in eighth position.
POLOKWANE CITY
Rise and Shine were top of the standings not so long ago, but things have not gone so well for them recently, as they are currently on a run of three matches without a win. They've collected just one point in their last three matches are and well aware of the fact that they cannot slip further away from the leaders if they want to secure automatic promotion, which is why they are going to need to pull up their socks in the remaining five matches of the campaign. In their final five matches of the season, City have tough fixtures against La Masia, JDR Stars, Uthongathi. Only two of the matches will be played at home.
CAPE TOWN SPURS
It hasn't been the smoothest of seasons for Spurs, but they have managed to keep themselves alive in the race to win promotion. Like City, Spurs would have another shot at winning promotion by qualifying for the end of season playoffs. Like City, Spurs have, at some point, felt what it's like to be top of the standings, but two defeats in their last two matches have dented their promotion hopes and they now have little room for error in the final five matches of the season. They'd definitely boost their chances of automatic promotion if they were to beat Casric this weekend. After facing Casric, Spurs' four remaining fixtures will be against clubs in the bottom half of the table - Platinum City Rovers, Venda FA, La Masia and Pretoria University.
READ: Three-Year Deal For Mdantsane?
HUNGRY LIONS
Currently in fourth place, Lions have an outside chance of winning promotion, but it would take a serious collapse at the top by Casric, and a poor run of form from City and Spurs, for them to get there. Lions are eight points behind the leaders. At this stage, Lions have a better chance of fighting for a spot in the play-offs, but stranger things have happened in football, so they are not likely to throw in the towel just yet for automatic promotion.
You must be Sign In to read and post comments.
