University of Pretoria, or AmaTuks as they are known, will be without their influential attacker Luvuyo Phewa when they host Hungry Lions in a must-win final GladAfrica Championship fixture on Sunday.
Phewa, who is the club’s leading goalscorer with 10 goals, sustained an ankle injury during the team’s 2-2 draw against Cape Town Spurs last weekend.
These results, coupled with log leaders Richards Bay’s win over TS Sporting, have made it difficult for AmaTuks in their race for an automatic promotion.
As things stand, AmaTuks are on 51 points, two points below Bay on the GladAfrica Championship table.
A draw or defeat for the Tshwane side will be a favourable result for Bay, who are holding on to avoid the mishap from last season when they had a serious slump in the closing stage of last season, despite dominating the race for promotion.
READ: AmaTuks in with a chance thanks to Tlisane Motaung
Bay will face Spurs in their final match.
Meanwhile, Phewa (22), who is a loan at AmaTuks from Mamelodi Sundowns, didn’t tear a muscle nor break his ankle, but medical findings deemed him unfit to participate in any training or football match until further notice.
His coach, Tlisane Motaung, said this was one of the most unfortunate incidents for his team leading up to the crucial day of the campaign.
However, he added that AmaTuks will do everything in their power to push for a win.
“This is one of the most trying weeks we have ever experienced so far, especially leading up to our Cape Town Spurs league match.
“We had a stomach bug, which affected most of our players in camp and to make matters worse, Phewa got injured in the opening minute of the Spurs game.
“The players know what’s at stake here and everybody knows that this is a match where we will need to pull together and do whatever it takes to get things done on our end.”
Sunday
Richards Bay vs Cape Town Spurs (King Goodwill Zwelithini Stadium)
University of Pretoria vs Hungry Lions (Absa Tuks Stadium)
Cape Town All Stars vs JDR Stars (Idas Valley Sports Ground)
Pretoria Callies vs Jomo Cosmos (Lucas Moripe Stadium)
Venda Football Academy vs Free State Stars (Thohoyandou Stadium)
Platinum City Rovers vs Black Leopards (Profert Olën Park)
Polokwane City vs Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila (Peter Mokaba Stadium)
Uthongathi FC vs TS Sporting (Princess Magogo Stadium).
All matches kick off at 3pm.
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