Citizens hope to turn tables as the axe looms large

Cape Town City interim coach Diogo Peral has admitted they're in a difficult space, having gone 13 games without a win, with relegation starring them in the face. 

“Mentally, it's a tough place to be in. You have to try and work out where your next win is going to come from... It makes it difficult because sometimes we play well but we don't get the results, and the guys get discouraged and we have to lift them up again,'' Peral said.

“We need to get a win somewhere; we need to win games to get out of this situation. For sure, the teams at the bottom with us are all performing, and they'll get their wins, so we also need to step up, otherwise we will be in trouble at the end of the season.''

The Citizens have won just one of their 14 games away in the league, with a whopping 10 defeats and three draws. Peral, who replaced Muhsin Ertugral in March, suggested their poor run on the road was the root of their struggles.

City have one away game remaining, against Polokwane City on May 17 at the Old Peter Mokaba Stadium. “Away games for us are really tough and the home games left are against really, really good opposition but we have to believe. We're going to Polokwane... and I know that's a tough place to go to but we have to make it happen there.''

Their already tough season will get even trickier as they next host leaders Mamelodi Sundowns at Cape Town Stadium on May 4. Peral, however, sounded confident they can get something against Sundowns, drawing courage from the fact that they handed the perennial league kings their only league defeat last term on the last day of the season.

“We'll do everything we can to prepare both mentally and tactically and the players have to come up with something...they must believe because we've done it against Sundowns before, so we will try to do it again,” he said.

City's 13-game winless run (league unless stated)

27 Jan: 0-2 v Sekhukhune (Nedbank last 32)

2 Feb: 0-2 v Galaxy

5 Feb: 1-1 v Arrows

8 Feb: 0-2 v Magesi

18 Feb: 0-2 v Chippa

22 Feb: 1-2 v Pirates

2 March: 0-2 v AmaZulu

5 March: 1-1 v Galaxy

12 March: 0-0 v Chiefs

15 March: 0-1 v Marumo

30 May: 0-0 v SuperSport

6 April: 1-2 v Sekhukhune

18 April: 0-1 v Bay

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