University of Johannesburg captain Potoko Mametja says his team is ready for a Wits onslaught in tonight’s Varsity Football semi-final.
The Joburg derby is expected to be a highly-charged affair and Mametja believes Wits will be throwing everything at them.
Read: Wits Ready For UJ Challenge
“Derbies are always tough games, but with it being a semi-final it is going to be even more intense. There is just so much at stake,” Mametja said. “We beat them in the league phase also, so that’s going to pump them up even more. They are going to want revenge and will be coming hard at us.”
UJ did indeed emerge victorious in the league encounter and were, in fact, the form team of the round-robin phase, ultimately finishing top of the log to earn this home semi-final. Mametja claims this will give them the edge in tonight’s clash.
“We finished top of the log. We take a lot of confidence from that into the semi-finals. The boys have put in a lot of hard work, commitment and effort, so I think our boys will look to take that form into the semis,” the skipper said.
UJ also have a proud record in the Varsity Football competition with the team perennial qualifiers for the play-offs, while they have finished runners-up on a couple of occasions. It for this reason that Mametja believes the Class of 2018 has achieved nothing as yet.
“We have lost in the final a couple of times and that was heartbreaking,” he said.
“We are in the semis now, but the job is not finished yet. We still have two more games to play. We don’t want to look too far ahead, but the league is done now. We need to stay focused for we can create history and achieve what no UJ team has done before.”