/ 17 January 2000

Grobbelaar’s winning streak continues

ANDREW MUCHINERIPI, Pretoria | Monday 11.00am.

IT cannot be long before Bruce Grobbelaar demonstrates to us mere mortals how easy walking on water really is.

The new coach of struggling SuperSport United made it two wins in two matches with a 3-0 victory over fourth-placed Classic that was even easier than the scoreline suggests.

Before the arrival of Grobbelaar amid hope and hype, United had won just four times in 22 Castle Premiership matches and were hurtling towards the semi-anonymity of MTN First Division football.

A dramatic 3-2 victory over Orlando Pirates represented the perfect start and if the damp, chilly conditions at the Caledonian Stadium on Friday night were not particularly inviting, the result was ample compensation.

Classic are as poor away from home as they are formidable at Makhulong Stadium in Tembisa, and even the relatively short journey up the highway to Pretoria exposed them as awful travellers.

Former Santos striker David Notoane, at last displaying the predatory instincts that saw him leave Cape Town during the close season for a considerable fee, was on target twice and Zimbabwean Tauya Mrewa once.

Equally good news for Grobbelaar was the 3-1 loss suffered by AmaZulu in Cape Town against Hellenic, a result that saw the Durban club drop into the relegation zone below SuperSport.

Kaizer Chiefs would have gone above Sundowns to the top of the table had they beaten Jomo Cosmos at Johannesburg Stadium but the rain, which is threatened to turn us into boat people, forced a cancellation.

While rain enveloped Gauteng, it was shining in Bloemfontien as Celtic and Wits University shared six goals in a match that saw the visitors lead twice before coming from behind to secure draw No 12 of the season.