That task appears easily attainable for Stuart Baxter and his men as their next opponents are bottom of the table, and will have to stage an upset to avoid becoming the latest victims to be beaten at SuperSport’s adopted home Mbombela Stadium on Saturday afternoon (15h00).
Matsatsantsa have been in a mean mood whenever they play at this venue in the Mpumalanga province – suppressing Bidvest Wits 2-0, humiliating Orlando Pirates 6-1 before again downing The Bucs by a single goal.
Right now SuperSport have gone 19 games without defeat in the league – a record that they share with Kaizer Chiefs who also went 19 games without losing under Baxter on their way to lifting the title during the 2014-15 season.
Since the opening day defeat away to Platinum Stars, Matsatsantsa have won nine and drawn 10, keeping themselves in the title-chasing pack with a third of the season to be played.
Just like he did while at Chiefs, Baxter is again proving difficult to beat with the league’s longest spells without defeat now possibly being extended by him again at a different club.
At club level prior to this run the longest run without defeat by SuperSport stood at 17 games set under Gavin Hunt between 12/9/2009-12/12/2009 as they went on to win their last league title.
Last year Mamelodi Sundowns came close to equalling this 19-game unbeaten record on their way to lifting the championship, but came unstuck on 18 games after being clogged by Bloemfontein Celtic.
Amakhosi also still hold the longest ever unbeaten run in the league (31 matches) – which was however recorded over two seasons (15/1/2005-29/10/2005) unlike SuperSport who will now set the new record in the same campaign.
After this weekend’s game against Baroka, SuperSport’s remaining list of opponents will read Mamelodi Sundowns, Bloemfontein Celtic, Bidvest Wits, Kaizer Chiefs, Sundowns, Polokwane City, Cape Town City, Chippa United and Platinum Stars.
