Unhappy with the fact that The Amakhosi were not able to return home from the Free State with all three points, when they were in action against Bloemfontein Celtic at the Seisa Ramabodu Stadium on Sunday, Chiefs combative Zimbabwean international left back, Onismor Bhasera has his sights set on closing off the year in style with a win over Black Leopards.

Bhasera who had to sit out Chiefs games against Santos and Golden Arrows as he was serving a two match suspension for a red card he received when The Amakhosi played to a 1-1 draw with Amazulu in Durban made a return to action over the weekend and stood his ground and was not very troubled by Celtics deadly Ghanaian striker Mark Amofah.

Bhasera knows that he and his team mates cannot approach Saturday’s game half heartedly or underestimate Leopards even though they are at the bottom end of the league standings, Bhasera is well aware of the fact that they are capable of causing an upset as they did earlier in the month when defeating Mamelodi Sundowns.

For Chiefs to keep themselves in the title race Bhasera believes that a three point haul against Leopards will help them do just that, being in the top ten places by the time the league breaks off this weekend is high on the agenda for the no nonsense defender.

Big match boys

Bhasera is wary of the fact that Leopards can really lift their game when coming up against the so called bigger teams, with the Thoyandou team having won once in December at Loftus Stadium in Tshwane already.

He knows that he will need to be at his best to ensure that they do not repeat the result they achieved against Sundowns, when they defeated the defending PSL Champions 2-0 earlier in the month.

“I do not like categorizing teams and saying that they are off form, to me there is no such a thing we know that Leopards are particularly dangerous against the big teams. They wait for you to slip up and they hit you hard, I saw that when they defeated Sundowns and they did not look anything like a team who were off form to me it was just the contrary”, said Bhasera.

Tough bunch

The 24 year old Amakhosi defender, who possesses a strong left peg, has described Leopards as a good bunch of players and has said that it is their ability to play well as a team that makes them particularly dangerous.

“What makes Leopards special and difficult to play against is the fact that they do not rely on one player to cause havoc. Instead they have a number of guys who gang up together and they just seem to gel well. I rate players such as Myron Shongwe, Jabulani Maluleke and Peter Mponda quite highly and it will be a mistake for us to not condition ourselves for a very strenuous game”.

Alluding further to the fact that Leopards are tough prospect Bhasera pointed out the fact that with ten men for almost and hour in their last league encounter, they managed to hold out for a point against Jomo Cosmos and had the opportunities to have snatched a win.

Three point task

With three vital points on offer and a tough assignment against Leopards Bhasera is ready for a real battle on Sunday, and believes that Chiefs cannot compromise on the fact that they need the three points from the match.

“Drawing or losing on Saturday is definitely out of the question, for us there is only one thing that we need to do and that is to win the game. We have dropped a number of points in recent times, and drawn matches that we should have won, so the right thing for us to do is to win the match and end off the year with a victory. Being placed inside the top ten places and with the way results have been going, it would mean that we would be in a position to some how play ourselves into the battle for the title when play gets underway next year”.