1 April 2009

Igesund targets high finish

Coach Gordon Igesund believes that a top eight finish is certainly not beyond the reach of Maritzburg United.

Five wins in their last five outings - two in the cup and three in the league, have instilled a new sense of confidence and self belief.

With a Nedbank Cup quarter-final clash agaibst Moroka Swallows to look forward to, the Team of Choice are close to breaking free of the shackles of he relegation threat.

It would be unwise to let complacency set - with five games to go the tight nature of the log makes over-confidence a danger.

Igesund will no doubt remind his players that the job is not quite yet done, but in the same breath, he is optimistic about the remainder of the season.

"Our good result against Wits helped us a lot on improving our log position. We needed those three points more than Wits," said Igesund.

"After winning that crucial match I don't think we are still in danger of being relegated. Our main focus now is to finish the season in the top eight bracket.

"Having said that, getting a place in the top eight won't be an easy task for us as we are still going to play crucial remaining fixtures, but with the team that I have we can make it into the top eight," Igesund told Sapa.

Igesund continued:

“We’ve played 25 games together now and you can see the difference. At the beginning of the season I said we’d finish in the middle of the table with an outside chance of the top eight. The teams above us are now just two points away.” he told the Witness.

Maritzburg's next league game is against Orlando Pirates at the Woodburn on April 8 (19H30 kick off).

The Nedbank Cup quarterfinal against Moroka Swallows is on April 12