Known amicably by his peers and supporters alike as Tsiki Tsisk, Thabo speaks exclusively to www.kaizerchiefs.com telling of the importance of victory against Golden Arrows on Sunday.

KC.COM: Thabo you recall the first occasion in 2000 – 2001 season when Chiefs played against Golden Arrows, Chiefs took the lead thanks to you but eventually lost the game 3-1?




TM: Yes I do very clearly, it was a very strange game you know, we were on them for most of the game we did not particularly play badly we played well had a lot of ball possession. I think our failure on that occasion was that we did not finish them off when we had the chance that is a lesson that we have learnt down the years playing against Arrows. When the opportunity comes your way make it count, we have seen them in the past come back in games against us from seemingly hopeless situations.

KC.COM: What would you say is a particularly strong aspect of their game?




TM: One thing that I will give them credit for is that they are highly mobile you can get a guy like Alton Meiring building an attack from his own 18-yard area, and he will carry the ball all the way to our goalmouth. They are a very mobile team they players in their team that run relentlessly four ninety minutes and if you give them the opportunity they will run circles around you. We just need to ensure that we give them little time on the ball and close them down fast and keep them guessing when we attack.

KC.COM: How highly do you rate Golden Arrows as a team?




TM: They not the kind of team that makes it very often to cup final or contest the championship, they are a team who are made up of players with dogged determination. They have this uncanny ability of coming with bags full of party tricks especially when they play the bigger teams, especially Alton Meiring and I am not sure if he is trying to win a contract at Chiefs. Whenever Mabhuti Khanyeza plays against us he is determined to score, they are tough team especially away from home and over the past few seasons they have shown that they are here to stay in the PSL.

KC.COM: Do you think having beaten them three times in a row will make things easier or harder for us, to win on Sunday?




TM: Having defeated them at home in Durban last season helped us over come a major psychological hurdle, there after we defeated them twice most recently in the SAA Supa8 competition. I know we should not read much into history but all of those victories have lifted us and we do know that we can defeat them again, there was I time when I dreaded playing against them in Durban but all that is in the past. It is a whole different story now a days and I feel confident of a victory on Sunday.

KC.COM: If you had to put your self on the line and predict the outcome of the game, how do you see it panning out?




TM: At the moment we have picked up moment with the win against Swallows, all the guys are on a high and I know that we are missing a few players but the competition for places in the team is such that every one wants to play. That coupled with the momentum from the win against Swallows in the Supa8 Semi Finals should see us through to a victory. By how many goals or exactly what score line I could not really say, I know we will come good on Sunday.

KC.COM: Sunday’s game is in Chatsworth at a stadium that is quiet different from the ABSA Stadium; do you think this will have any effect on the game?




TM: Not really the Chatsworth field in width could be slightly wider, we have played there down the years and even when Manning Rangers were the main tenants we always seemed to come away with good results when playing games there. It really does not matter to me, we have played Arrows there previously and we drew with them so this time around we will be looking to go one better. Where we play is not important bringing back three points is much more important to the team.