Hope for more than a derby draw

The first Absa Premiership Soweto derby of the season hits town today, with some of the focus understandably on how well new security measures will work after the tragedy of the 2017 Carling Black Label Cup, when two fans died in a stampede outside the FNB Stadium.

Stadium Management pointed the finger at fraudulent tickets as causing congestion at the turnstiles. Now, ticket-checking perimeters are being put in place away from the stadium in an attempt to stop this from happening again.

There will hopefully be a trouble-free, thrilling atmosphere inside the stadium, which should be close to its 90 000 capacity for the biggest soccer match on the South African calendar.

Hopefully, Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates can provide a fantastic match on the field, too, though this is too often not the case.

Derbies can be dull affairs, with coaches employing defensive tactics in the knowledge that if they can walk away with a point, it will be a decent result in a game that gets the Amakhosi and Buccaneers fans going like no other.

Playing bold, flamboyant attacking soccer has certainly not been a trademark of Steve Komphela’s two-and-a-bit seasons in charge at Chiefs, while Milutin Sredojevic has also, somewhat understandably, employed careful tactics in his bid to rebuild Pirates after the disaster of last season.

With this in mind, it is hard to see a glut of goals this afternoon, although Chiefs have some momentum after their amazing win over Sundowns, with Bernard Parker reminding everyone of his class with a brilliant goal.

For Pirates, Thamsanqa Gabuza looks back in decent nick and if these two players can fire today, maybe the derby can still surprise the weary cynics.

A draw, however, does look the most likely outcome.