Mkhonza ready to fill the void
Mkhonza ready to fill the void

Posted in News on Aug 10, 2006.

Chiefs head towards their SAA Supa8 quarterfinal clash with Golden Arrows on Saturday with the knowledge that defender Ditheko Mototo and Derrick Spencer will in all likelihood be unavailable for Saturday’s game.

Mototo who has made slow progress in his recovery from a hamstring injury sustained in a Telkom Charity Cup game against Mamelodi Sundowns is a certainty to miss out on the Arrows clash. With Mototo watching from the stands, Siphiwe Mkhonza is hopeful that he will be able to shrug off a number of niggles and knocks and get the nod in defence for Saturday’s game.

Mkhonza is aiming his bow at Arrows and is looking forward to locking horns with Arrows in a Cup Match, with the last Cup clash between the two teams coming two years ago again in the Coca Cola Cup. Although most of his former teammates have left Arrows, Siphiwe is looking forward to having a run at his former club.

Speaking to kaizerchiefs.com after training on Thursday morning Mkhonza said of Saturday’s game “I am feeling much stronger and I hope that if given a chance on Saturday I will bring my best game to the FNB Stadium with me”.

The Chiefs defender is not phased by having to face up to the likes of Mabhuti Khanyeza and Lucky Sibeko who are survivors from when Mkhonza was an Arrows players.

As he added “In the past Arrows have always came with a lot of party tricks when they play against the so called big three, if you look back at last season they beat Pirates,gave us a run and also took Sundowns all the way”. Recalling past experience Mkhonza explains why the Lamontville outfit have been successful against the bigger teams “when I was at Arrows before a big game we would get fired up, mainly because no one gave us a chance and the big teams would take us lightly. That always drove us, at the moment we are not underestimating our opponents and we are keeping a level head which will count in Chiefs favour”.

Having already won every other domestic title on offer in South African football with Chiefs, Mkhonza is looking to complete the puzzle with what he is hoping will be a successful SAA Supa8 tournament for Chiefs. Mkhonza is further buoyed by the fact that there exists in the current Chiefs team a close team spirit as well as a desire to succeed “all the guys are on the same page here, we all understand that for us to be successful we need to think like a team. That means fighting together and for each other on the field of play and generally we want to start and end this season successfully”.

The Sponsors of the 2006 Supa8 Competition have thrown in a number of incentives, which Siphiwe and his teammates will want to get their hands on, as the man of the match on Saturday will receive two tickets from South African Airways. He will be able to use them to fly to any destination served by the airline inside South Africa, further more in the spirit of national women’s day just passed.

South African Airways and the PSL will be giving Chiefs and Arrows 200 tickets each to Saturday’s game, which must be given to female supporters of the teams. Gates will open at 11h00 on Saturday and the game kick’s off at 15h15; pre match entertainment will be in the form of DJ Monde and Black Coffee

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