‘I came here to score goals’ – Safranko

Mamelodi Sundowns striker Pavol Safranko says he touched down to South Africa to tap the net for Masandawana. Safranko was signed at the beginning of the season and hasn’t yet found a regular place in the starting lineup of Manqoba Mqithi and Rhulani Mokwena.

Sundowns will be crowned league champions this Saturday in Durban after their last game of the season against Royal AM. Bafana Ba Style remain on course to celebrate a domestic treble after they completed a remarkable season in which they were confirmed as SA league champions and earned a place in the Nedbank Cup final after beating Royal AM 2-1 at the Chatsworth Stadium in April.

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Back in April Pavol Šafranko scored the winning goal for Masandawana to deny the Durban side who are in third place in the DStv Premiership on 46 points with two games remaining in the season a chance to appear in the cup final in their maiden season in the top flight of SA football.

“I’m sure Royal AM will not be an easy opponent to beat, but what we can do and what’s in our DNA is to win games, we will do our best. I came here to score goals and I will try to score in this game.” said the Slovak international striker.

The match between the Tshwane giants and Thwihli Thwahla has become one that the supporters anticipate being a thrilling encounter as both teams play a similar style of football with goals guaranteed to be scored. Masandawana have been dominant and successful in their previous campaigns against the KwaZulu-Natal-based outfit by winning all two of their battles, Šafranko gave an analysis of what the team is expecting ahead of the clash on Saturday.

“I think we will face a team that will be very tough to beat. Royal AM’s defense is quite good, they are quite physical and strong. Even when we played them in the semi-final of the Nedbank Cup they gave us a tough time, but we have to keep on focusing on ourselves and hopefully we can beat them again,” added the 27-year-old striker.

Earlier this season, Mnqithi heaped praise on Safranko saying he does well and gives them what they want but his barrier to entry in Peter Shalulile and Kermit Erasmus. “He has done well, works very hard and gives us what we want, but we can’t just give the line-up to him when Peter Shalulile is doing well and when Kermit Erasmus has been doing well,” said Mngqithi.

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“He must fight for it and whenever he gets an opportunity to start a game he will give it his best shot. We are happy with the progress that he is making and in training he is looking very good and scoring a lot of goals for us.

Mamelodi Sundowns meet Royal AM in the DStv Premiership on Saturday afternoon at the Chatsworth Stadium. The kick-off is at 15H00.