Lakay – Sundowns are beatable

Familiar foes SuperSport United and Mamelodi Sundowns will lock horns in the eagerly awaited Tshwane derby at the Lucas Masterpieces Moripe Stadium on Wednesday.

The DStv Premiership clash will feel like a reunion of some sort with a number of players on either side having been on the books of both outfits.

However, there will be no love lost on the field of play with three points and the city of Tshwane’s bragging rights on the line.

A win for either team will be enough for them to leapfrog Cape Town City into first position on the standings. Matsatsantsa a Pitori are the last team to inflict defeat on the Brazilians in a league encounter.

Ironically, Thapelo Maseko who was one of the scorers in the 2-1 win for SuperSport last season and has since moved to the greener pastures of Masandawana.

Meanwhile, United new recruit Lyle Lakay insists he has no point to prove against his former employers, following his unceremonious exit at Chloorkop a season ago.

At the time of his departure to Cape Town City on a season-long loan, it would have been a bitter pill to swallow for Lakay, who was the reigning PSL Defender of the Season.

“I don’t have a point to prove to be honest. As a footballer, you want to move on because you can’t hold things in,” the defender said in a wide-ranging interview with Phakaaathi.

“At that time I was disappointed, but we have to accept things and move on. I told myself that just like (Tebogo) Langerman gave way for me, I knew my time was going to come to also give way.

“Not that I want to talk about it but I won everything locally. It’s just the CAF Champions League that I didn’t get to win with the club. If you look at the trophies and amount of games that I’ve played and what I achieved, I would say personally it was a success and there’s nothing for me to prove.”

‘They have set the bar high’

Lakay was coincidentally in the starting line-up for Sundowns when they lost to SuperSport a couple of days before the left-back was shipped out of the team.

“They are beatable but they have set the bar so high and they are the team to beat in the country,” he said.

“I’ve been there and I know how it is but we have to do our homework. You mentioned last year that they beat Sundowns and I played in that game. I remember that I made a mistake that cost us a goal. As much as we praise them, we can beat them.

“If you ask them on the side, they will tell you that if there’s one team that has given Sundowns problems in the last two years, it is SuperSport.”