Chippa United halt top eight talk to dig in for survival battle

Vilakazi was speaking after his team suffered a 4-1 thrashing at the hands of Betway Premiership defending champions and log leaders Mamelodi Sundowns at Loftus Versfeld on Friday night. 

The loss left Chippa in 13th on the log – just two points away from a relegation playoff position and eight points adrift of eighth place, but Vilakazi says their remaining seven games is firstly about avoiding the dropzone.

"The focus for now, we need to be honest with ourselves, is to take one game at a time. I know there is the possibility for a top right place but for now we have to make sure that we save the status and save the team.

"We don't want to be close to relegation or close to the playoff position, and we still have a lot of work ahead of us but we will definitely make sure that we take advantage of playing at home. We will take the positives from this game against Sundowns and try to finish strong."

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Reflecting on their loss, Vilakazi touched on how they were let down by their defensive structure and the challenges posed by a lack of balance in offensive and defensive play.

The silver lining in this second round has been the return of Bafana Bafana midfielder-cum-attacker Sinoxolo Kwayiba from Orlando Pirates, who is already on five goals in eight league matches for the Chilli Boys. 

Vilakazi shares the talk he had with Kwayiba upon his return from Pirates.

"When Kwayiba arrived back to the team, I had a strong talk with him and started to work on the psychological aspect of his game in terms of believing in himself and trusting the process.

"When he gets the chance, he is very clinical in front of goal and that will give him the motivation going forward. Im happy that he is scoring but he is still not the best version of Kwayiba that we know."

Chippa next host Siwelele FC at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Gqeberha on Wednesday, with Vilakazi calling for deep introspection as they look to snap their five-match winless run.