Time is not on the side of teams in the relegation zone, who have three or fewer games remaining to prove that they are premiership material.
There are four teams — Hellenic, Ajax Cape Town, Bush Bucks and Black Leopards — who could still rejoin African Wanderers in the first division.Â
The KwaZulu-Natal club have proven time and again that the Premier Soccer League (PSL) is too good for them — but that they are also just too good for the first division.Â
However, each time Wanderers have ridden the yo-yo up to the top flight they have brought with them an exceptional player who has left an indelible mark on the game. The soon-to-be coastal stream team has introduced the likes of Sibusiso Zuma and Siyabonga Nomvete to the PSL and this season they unveiled the talents of Welcome Mazibuko.
Although Wanderers can no longer redeem themselves — they have managed to win just four and draw six of their 27 games so far — they can still affect the league standings. But their opponents in the remaining games have other priorities.
This weekend Wanderers face fellow strugglers Hellenic — who will be in no mood to do them any favours — followed by league contenders Orlando Pirates. Wanderers’ last game is against Supersport United.
Ajax Cape Town, on tenterhooks in the league, will hope that their great performances in the Absa Cup rub off in their last three league games. Coach Gordon Igesund — who led Santos to the league title last season — will have to make his players believe that they are still in with a chance of retaining their league status.Â
The Ajax coach said: ‘We find ourselves in a very difficult situation but I am confident that we will pull through.â€
No one could have believed at the beginning of the season that Igesund would find himself coaching a team staring relegation in the face. From their 27 games Ajax have managed only 28 points. Igesund said they would treat each of their remaining league matches as cup finals.
Bush Bucks — second from bottom in the log with 26 points from 27 games — look the most likely to join Wanderers going down after their 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Pirates last weekend.
That put Pirates in pole position for the league title, with a four-point cushion at the top of the table above Moroka Swallows and Wits University.Â
On Sunday Bush Bucks play Ajax Cape Town at Newlands stadium in a six-pointer. There should be no stopping the Cape team, who showed how serious they are about staying in the premiership when they beat Manning Ranges 2-1 last week.
Bush Bucks’ final two games are against teams who have no silverware in their cabinet but who are looking to stay in the top eight — Sundowns and Kaizer Chiefs.
The Greek Gods have been regular Houdinis at the bottom of the table, managing to avoid relegation season after season by the narrowest of margins.
They need not press the panic button this time around either, as coach Neil Tovey is determined to help them stay up before he moves on at the end of the season.Â
The former Bafana Bafana player said: ‘My priority is to keep Hellenic in the league.†In order for Tovey to achieve this he will need to win all the remaining games.
Black Leopards are the best-placed of the four teams in the relegation zone. They are 12th on the log, with 30 points, and are riding high on confidence after they humiliated Kaizer Chiefs 3-0 a few weeks ago in a league game and went on to beat league contenders Wits University last Saturday.
Leopards play Limpopo rivals Dynamos on Sunday in what should be a scintillating game of soccer at the Giyani stadium, where they will be great support for both teams. This game will be crucial to both teams for different reasons since Dynamos need a win to keep alive their hopes of being in the SAA Super Eight cup next season.
Dynamos are seventh in the table with one more game to go after Leopards. If Leopards can win, however, this will ensure that they escape any threat of relegation.Â