Premier League's most successful manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, once asserted "attack wins you games, defence wins you titles".
And It's no surprise the adage has stayed in vogue. Unsurprisingly, Diski Challenge champions in the past three seasons have typically been strong at both ends - but ultimately, they have been better in attack.
When Stellenbosch FC won their first DDC title in the 2021-22 season they racked up 65 goals in 30 matches, an average of 2.17 goals per match while conceding only 27 goals, which average 0.9 goals per match.
The following season, season SuperSport United also clinched their first DDC title scoring 71 goals in 30 matches. They had an average of 2.37 goals per match, while in defence they remained solid as well conceding 34 goals, just below half of what they scored.
🏆CHAMPIONS!!!🏆
— SuperSport United FC (@SuperSportFC) May 7, 2023
Matsatsantsa are the new CHAMPIONS of the DStv Diski Challenge!!! 🤩#MatsatsantsaUnified | #Asidlali pic.twitter.com/jpit8YqA3C
Last season we witnessed almost the similar scenario where a team (Stellenbosch) that was within top two scoring teams and conceded fewer goals ended up being crowned DDC champions.
Currently, SuperSport United have scored the most goals this season (40) and conceded 21, which is not the least as things stand. However, their coach Roscoe Krieling has taken note of that and outlined it as one of the aspects that needs to be improved in their remaining 11 games in the Diski Challenge.
SuperSport are currently leading the Diski Challenge table as they have gathered 37 points out of 17 outings.
However, Krieling said they will only entertain winning the league talks after at least 25 matches.
"It would be foolish of us to think that we have arrived. January was good for us as we won all our matches, but we will remain humble," stated Krieling.
"We cannot say we want to go for it (win the title) at this stage, we just have to take each game as it comes and remain humble."
He added: "There are some aspects of our game that needs to be improved. As much as we are scoring goals we need to improve our defence and shut the door, we cannot be conceding as much as we score."
"We have a solid team now, recently promoted three players into the first team (Siyabonga Ndebele, Oratilwe Moloisane and Mandlenkosi Nkosi) we have some depth now."
𝐃𝐒𝐭𝐯 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐤𝐢 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐠 𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞!
— Asidlali (@Asidlali) February 3, 2025
SuperSport moved to the top of the DDC table, with Kaizer Chiefs second, followed by Sundowns and Stellies in position 4.
Can Matsatsantsa A Pitori go all the way now or is it still early for title talk? #Asidlali pic.twitter.com/pDruIlA6nZ
SuperSport will return to action next Sunday (16 February) when they host Cape Town City FC in Pretoria.
For that clash, they will have a huge boost with the return of Thabang Mahlangu and Thabang Makubo were on trial in Spain.