We are in action tomorrow night, and I felt that it would be best if we moved it to Tuesday this week so that we may address a number of issues. Firstly I would like to get the ABSA Cup out of the way and will start with this past Saturday’s game against SuperSport United. Going into the game we were expecting SuperSport to make life more difficult for us than they did and overall I thought we did the job effectively.

In the first half, we were just not effective enough going forward and we wasted a number of opportunities. Our second half performance was in stark contrast to the first and we played much better. Louis broke his duck after almost two months and it was a good sign that he got amongst the goal scorers.

David Obua won the ‘man of the match’ award, which was a fitting testament to his performance in the game. Again the substitutes made the difference to our play in the second half - as a team everyone played their part really well with Rowen playing in his zone with some good saves.

The next phase of the competition sees us playing against City Pillars from Polokwane, who are currently second place behind Wits in the first division. The first thing we cannot do is under estimate the opposition, which will really be to our own detriment if we start doing that. The media have been saying it is a favourable draw, nothing is easy in soccer and we need to first play and win the game before we can say anything more.

Pillars are not an entirely closed book to us - we will study them and be well prepared. We are aware that they have a number of players who are seasoned campaigners in the PSL and we do know that they have former Chiefs player Lucky Maselesele in their ranks.

We now shift our attention back to the PSL with two high profile matches in the next four days, first up we play Santos and then Moroka Swallows. We play Santo away from home in Cape Town on Wednesday evening and it will not be a cakewalk for us. We do understand the challenges that Santos will throw at us. With the height advantage they possess we will be expecting an aerial assault, when we attack - we expect Santos to once again make things tough in defence.

They have been able to conjure up a lot of draws this season and have given the likes of Sundowns and Pirates a tough time whether it was in Cape Town or up in Gauteng. Santos do have a range of players who can turn the game. Marwan Bantam on song is a tricky customer. They also have Diphetogo Selolwane who has netted three goals in his last three games.

There are a handful of other Santos players who I have signalled out such as Edries Burton, Jean Marc Ithier and the Scott brothers Romano and Carlo as some of their danger men.

I do also have a lot of respect for their coach Roger Da Sa he has a good team that is made up of both young and old players that combine well with each other. Roger has done well with the group of players that he has and I am sure he will not need to motivate them further when Chiefs come in to town.

To all of our supporters who might be in and around Cape Town on Wednesday and all of our legions of fans in Khayaleitsha, Gugulethu, Langa, Mitchells Plain, Athlone and wherever else in the beautiful mother City you may come from - please do come down to Newlands as we would love to see you in the stands.

Till next time, practice fair play not just on the field but at home with your wives and kids.

Yours as a khosi 4 life

Ernst Middendorp