Five clubs are in a pole position finish in streams A and B of the Free State’s ABC Motsepe League with not many games remaining to end the current 2023-’24 season. The chase to the finishing line is a two-horse race in stream B between Mangaung Unite (32 points) and Mathaithai (31 points), while in stream A it is a contest of three clubs: Bloemfontein Celtic (34 points), D’ General (33 points), and Dikgosi (31 points).
The favourites, however, are Celtic and D’ General, while Dikgosi remains the dark horse in the fierce contest. The latter team could intensify their chances by beating D’ General in yet another intriguing league fixture penciled for Saturday, 9 March.
In addition, they should hope Celtic donates maximum points against the Sibanye Golden Stars in an outing also taking place on Saturday.
The leaders in the two respective streams are under extreme pressure to avoid any slip-up for their challengers, who are lying in big wait to capitalise. Unite and Mathaithai shared the spoils in their return league encounter on Saturday, 2 March, after they played to a goalless draw at the Dr Rantlai Molemela Stadium. They failed to produce any magic in this outing which was another highly anticipated match to decide the stream winner.
A week ago, Celtic and D’ General also settled for a point apiece in a crucial match to determine the stream’s winner. Unite’s fixtures are against the Spartans on Saturday in Bloemfontein, with the very last against newcomers Ixias on 16 March in Welkom. The Botshabelo-based Mathaithai will face-off against the the Kovsies on Saturday before wrapping up their season playing host to the Spartans on 16 March.
D’ General will close off the season playing the Central University of Technology (CUT), Free State, while Celtic will clash with the Bloemfontein Young Tigers – bringing this season to a close.
