Cape Town - Moroka Swallows coach Fani Madida hopes that the Birds can overcome a dreadful run of form at home by beating Ajax Cape Town at the Dobsonville Stadium on Wednesday night.
ALSO READ: Preview: Swallows v Ajax.
Swallows will be looking to put to an end to a run of four consecutive defeats on their home turf.
The last time the Birds won in Dobsonville was at the end of August, when they beat Polokwane City 3-2. In total they lost five of their seven home fixtures this season.
It’s been a tough campaign all round for the Johannesburg-based outfit, although they will head into the match with Ajax boosted by a 2-1 win away to Maritzburg United in their most recent action, a result which ensured that the club stayed out of the relegation zone, in 13th spot.
“The win over Maritzburg was certainly a morale-booster,” said Birds coach Madida ahead of Wednesday’s showdown.
“Now we must face Ajax, and there is no easy or simple solution as to how to beat them.
“It’s a matter of us doing our utmost on the field to secure the points at home, working hard for each other and playing with commitment and focus.
“Ajax are a young team playing some really good football, with a good coach. But we have to take the attitude that this is our home game and we have to fight with everything we have to get the three points,” added Madida.
The Birds will have a clean bill of health for this game, with the exception of long-term injury victim Lefa Tsutsulupa, who is however getting close to a return.
Ajax meanwhile go into the game in second position on the table, their youthful side flying high under coach Roger De Sa, who saw his side through to a 1-0 victory over Bloemfontein Celtic in their last game.
“Always a difficult team to play at, a very good team in attack, they are exciting going forward, they score lots of goals, but obviously they have been leaking at the back,” was the Ajax manager’s assessment of Swallows.
“But I don’t think they deserve to be where they are on the log, they’re a team with lot bigger ambitions and I think they are just going through a bad patch. Looking at their win against Maritzburg United away, I hope they haven’t gotten out of it yet.
“We haven’t had the best run away from home, we all know that. The [3-0] away to Tuks was obviously a bad result, but I think we have improved in certain areas and I hope we can go to Swallows and build on that,” said De Sa.
The Cape side will be without the suspended Abbubaker Mobara for the game, with Keagan Dolly and Dominic Isaacs their only injury absentees.
The match kicks off at 19:30.
ALSO READ: Preview: Swallows v Ajax.
Swallows will be looking to put to an end to a run of four consecutive defeats on their home turf.
The last time the Birds won in Dobsonville was at the end of August, when they beat Polokwane City 3-2. In total they lost five of their seven home fixtures this season.
It’s been a tough campaign all round for the Johannesburg-based outfit, although they will head into the match with Ajax boosted by a 2-1 win away to Maritzburg United in their most recent action, a result which ensured that the club stayed out of the relegation zone, in 13th spot.
“The win over Maritzburg was certainly a morale-booster,” said Birds coach Madida ahead of Wednesday’s showdown.
“Now we must face Ajax, and there is no easy or simple solution as to how to beat them.
“It’s a matter of us doing our utmost on the field to secure the points at home, working hard for each other and playing with commitment and focus.
“Ajax are a young team playing some really good football, with a good coach. But we have to take the attitude that this is our home game and we have to fight with everything we have to get the three points,” added Madida.
The Birds will have a clean bill of health for this game, with the exception of long-term injury victim Lefa Tsutsulupa, who is however getting close to a return.
Ajax meanwhile go into the game in second position on the table, their youthful side flying high under coach Roger De Sa, who saw his side through to a 1-0 victory over Bloemfontein Celtic in their last game.
“Always a difficult team to play at, a very good team in attack, they are exciting going forward, they score lots of goals, but obviously they have been leaking at the back,” was the Ajax manager’s assessment of Swallows.
“But I don’t think they deserve to be where they are on the log, they’re a team with lot bigger ambitions and I think they are just going through a bad patch. Looking at their win against Maritzburg United away, I hope they haven’t gotten out of it yet.
“We haven’t had the best run away from home, we all know that. The [3-0] away to Tuks was obviously a bad result, but I think we have improved in certain areas and I hope we can go to Swallows and build on that,” said De Sa.
The Cape side will be without the suspended Abbubaker Mobara for the game, with Keagan Dolly and Dominic Isaacs their only injury absentees.
The match kicks off at 19:30.