Cape Town - After going down to Sekhukhune United last Sunday, Kaizer Chiefs slipped up in the race to finish second in the Premiership.
The setback allowed Orlando Pirates and SuperSport United to strengthen their efforts to finish runners-up to Mamelodi Sundowns, who have already won the league title.
Fourth place seems to be the mostly likely finish for Chiefs, and to stay on course, they will need a beat relegation-doomed Chippa United tomorrow at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.
Chippa find themselves at the other end of the table, so their focus is on survival. They are in 15th place and the relegation axe looms large. They have 26 points, one point above bottom side Maritzburg United.
In their last outing, Chippa played one of their better matches the season, but it was not enough to stop Sekhukhune from winning 2-1 in the Nedbank Cup quarter-finals.
If they can repeat that performance, it may be enough to topple Chiefs, who are going through a rocky patch.
Amakhosi coach Arthur Zwane is concerned about the availability of key player Keagan Dolly, who left the field injured in the second half against Sekhukhune.
Zwane has confirmed that Dolly is nursing a knee problem. If he does not pass a fitness test today, the coach is likely to call on Burundian Bonfils-Caleb Bimenyimana.
“We’ll wait for the medical team for the report ... then we’ll take it from there,” said Zwane.
Despite Sunday’s setback, Zwane is still harbouring thoughts of a CAF Champions League slot next season.
“I’m one person who doesn’t give up too easily. This is football, and anything can happen at any given time,” said Zwane.
“We dropped points and, yes, I’m disappointed and I know we could have done better.
“It’s one of those things where you never know what’s going to happen, because everyone’s fighting to be in the top eight or avoid relegation, and we’re also fighting to be in a better position.
“There are no easy games at this time of the season.”
Tomorrow’s other league match will see third-bottom Swallows FC welcome Maritzburg to Dobsonville Stadium.
Maritzburg are rock-bottom of the standings, and coach Fadlu Davids has spent the past few days plotting their plan for the match.
He flew down to Cape Town over the weekend to watch Swallows in action against Stellenbosch FC, and he would have seen enough to arm his players with a match-winning blueprint.
“It’s not over (the relegation fight), it is not all lost. We play Swallows, we play Marumo Gallants – it’s direct rivals, and it’s still in our hands,” said Davids.
“It’s clear that we need six points from our next two games. But let us focus on the first one, and then the next one we will tackle, analyse and go through.
“But now, our focus is on Swallows. Getting three points against Swallows is so, so vital.
“We will take the same mentality, the same aggressive approach to win matches. If we need to create more, we will create more because it is goals that are missing, especially after the way we unlocked Richards Bay.”