Amazulu’s hunt for the league title continued on Saturday, with a well-deserved 2-1 win over 10th placed TS Galaxy.
The win which brings them within three points to the top of the table may have boosted their confidence, as head coach, Benni McCarthy, reiterated his side’s desire to continue pushing to close the gap on DStv Premiership leaders Mamelodi Sundowns.
Now with three outstanding matches, and a tie against Kaizer Chiefs on Sunday afternoon, the Brazilians have it all to play for.
Mamelodi have their fate in their hands, with the odds stacked heavily in their favour, but this has not deterred Benni McCarthy. He declared after Saturday afternoon’s victory that they will continue to mount the pressure on Sundowns till the season is up.
“We want to push Sundowns as far as we can‚ put them under pressure and see if they will continue to do so well” Benni McCarthy said after his side’s victory.
“If they win the league we will congratulate them for the championship, but you know it is not over until it’s over. We are challenging ourselves every day to be better and to get to a level where we can be happy within ourselves.
“If you look at the difference between our squad and that of Sundowns‚ they have quality‚ strength and everything. Competing against them is extremely difficult but when we play against them we don’t look at those aspects that happen outside the pitch.
“We look at 11 players against 11, where the ones with the biggest hearts‚ the most desire and the willingness will take the fight to the other. That’s how we look at things and the performance against them on Wednesday showed that we didn’t have respect for the opposition.
Benni McCarthy added: “We are making good progress‚ you must remember I never had preseason with this team. I never had the opportunity to instill the mindset and the mentality because I got them a quarter way into the season. I had to quickly turn things around and it has been good.
“I joined the race late and I am trying to finish it, but I want to see [what happens] next season where I can have the same start as anyone else. Then it will be fair to ask me if I can challenge for the league.”
There are about six more games before the season is up and anything can happen in the space of that time. It would be interesting to see how the current campaign comes to a climax.