A win for Highbury against Venda FC in their upcoming Motsepe Foundation Championship fixture would be a good way to end 2024, head coach Kabelo “KB” Sibiya said.
The Yellow Nation gained promotion to the second professional football tier after being crowned the 2024 ABC Motsepe League champions.
Highbury play Venda at the Thohoyandou Stadium on Saturday (3.30pm).
The team bounced back from their defeat to Baroka to claim a 1-0 win against struggling Cape Town Spurs in their previous home game at the Gelvandale Stadium in Gqeberha.
They hope to get their second three points in a row on Saturday.
Sibiya said if getting a victory over bottom-of-the-log Venda proved to be a struggle on Saturday, they would settle for a point.
The Gqeberha-based side are 12th on the log with 16 points from 13 matches.
“The preparations for our game against Venda have gone well, even though we still have a couple of injuries,” Sibiya said.
“Mzoxolo Rafani has been out for the past three games, and we also lost Dillon Goss in our last match against Cape Town Spurs.
“We have been struggling with injuries.
“Some of the guys are not yet back, but we are really pushing to go out there and win the match away from home.
“We know it’s not going to be an easy thing to do.
“We are playing against a side who are desperate for points.
“We understand that they scored two goals away against Baroka, which is something I believe is going to motivate them.
“However, they also conceded four goals in that match and we believe that with our current form of keeping clean sheets and being one of the teams that have fewer goals scored against them we will do well on Saturday.”
The coach said if they defended well and kept a clean sheet on Saturday they would have a good chance of scoring against Venda.
“They have been conceding goals in every match they have played, so we believe we can go out there and defend well and score one or two goals and get the three points.
“However, for us this is not a make-or-break match, but we are targeting three points and if it does not happen then our target will be not to lose the match.
“A win or draw will give us confidence going into the break and the new year.”
HeraldLIVE
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.