With the relegation places in the DStv Premiership having been decided this past week, we can now look ahead to the Promotion/Relegation Play-Offs that will be played from May 29-June 15, which will determine who will be the 16th team in the elite league next season.
The Play-Offs are being contested by Swallows FC, who finished 15th in the topflight this season, and the GladAfrica Championship due of University of Pretoria and Cape Town All Stars.
Recent history favours Swallows, with the Premiership side retaining their status in the last three seasons, but that has certainly not always been the case and since the Play-Offs began in the 2004/05 campaign, second-tier sides have triumphed in 10 of the 17 mini-tournaments.
Before the flurry of recent success for the Premiership teams, their record was just four wins in 14.
The reasons for that are varied, but it was often the case that the Championship teams come into their Play-Offs with their tails up and from a successful league campaign, while those elite league team is low on confidence having battled for wins all year.
Swallows were five minutes away from a morale-boosting win this past weekend before allowing Kaizer Chiefs an equaliser and just what psychological effect that will have remains to be seen.
The Play-offs get under way on Sunday in a clash between All Stars and AmaTuks at the Athlone Stadium in Cape Town, before Swallows host All Stars on June 1.
AmaTuks will then have two home games in a row, first hosting Swallows on June 4 and then All Stars on June 8.Swallows will then travel to the Danie Craven Stadium in Stellenbosch to face All Stars on June 11, and the final match will see Swallows welcome AmaTuks on June 15.
Here is a closer look at the three contenders.
SWALLOWS FC
League Position: 15th (DStv Premiership)
League Record: P30 W4 D14 L12 GF22 GA36 PTS26
Coach: Dylan Kerr
Top Scorer: Ruzaigh Gamildien – 5 goals
Swallows ended the season with three successive draws and have just a single win in their last 19 games (D5 L4) as they finished three points behind Chippa United in 14th place.
Just four wins in 30 league games is a dire record, and if you stretch that back to the 2020-21 campaign, they have only won five of their last 49 league games (D30 L14).
That is the clear reason why they find themselves where they are, but their is also no quick fix for coach Dylan Kerr.
The likelihood of them running over their Play-Off opponents is slim for the simple fact that they have forgotten how to win matches.
The Chiefs game was a case in point, they dominated their opponents and at 2-1 had incredible chances to go 3-1 up. In the end they drew, which is the story of their campaign.
Only Sekhukhune United (21) have scored fewer goals than Swallows (22) among the teams who have completed 30 games, while their defence (36 goals conceded) is the third worst in the elite league behind Baroka (40) and TS Galaxy (38).
They picked up more points on the road (14) than at home (12), while only one team (Mpumalanga Black Aces in 2009/10) has got as few as 26 points and survived in the Play-Offs.
UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA
League Position: 2nd (GladAfrica Championship)
League Record: P30 W13 D13 L4 GF40 GA26 PTS52
Coach: Tlisane Motaung
Top Scorer: Luvuyo Phewa – 10 goals
AmaTuks will rue a sticky end to the season when they drew four of their last five games and ultimately finished two points behind Richards Bay in the automatic promotion place.
Had they been more clinical in the final weeks they might already be celebrating a spot in the elite league.
But no team lost fewer than their four games this season, and only Polokwane City (42) scored more than their 40 goals.They remain unbeaten in the league in 2022, a run of 13 games (W7 D6), during which time they have managed six clean sheets.
The fact that the side also beat Chippa United in the Nedbank Cup and ran Royal AM close as they led 2-0 away from home, suggests this squad can be competitive with topflight teams.
Tlisane Motaung is a young coach with much potential and does have the wily Sammy Troughton as his technical director. They appear to make a good team.
It is perhaps not correct to say they have momentum going into the Play-Offs, but they have made themselves hard to beat and should have some confidence.
CAPE TOWN ALL STARS
League Position: 3rd (GladAfrica Championship)
League Record: P30 W12 D12 L6 GF37 GA26 PTS48
Coach: Allan Freese
Top Scorer: Ndiviwe Mdabuka – 11 goals
All Stars are a team that you discount at your peril and although they will go into the Play-Offs as underdogs, certainly have the potential to surprise with an exciting young team.
Not many expected them to be near the top of the table this campaign, but coach Allan Freese has them organised and they will be a handful.
They lost only one of their last six games (W3 D2), which was to JDR Stars when they had already secured third place and could move no higher. So there is not much to read into that result.
They do rely quite heavily on home form, having taken 29 points on their own patch and 19 away, and having lost only two of their last 18 in Cape Town (W10 D6), with one of those the dead-rubber defeat by Stars.
They tend to pick up a lot of draws on the road, with seven in their last 11 games (W2 L2).
Their top scorer this season has been former Ajax Cape Town midfielder Ndiviwe Mdabuka who has 11 goals, though four of those have been penalties.