Sekhukhune United coach Lehlohonolo Seema has made an honest admission about the quality and state of AmaZulu ahead of their Betway Premiership clash at King Zwelithini Stadium on Wednesday (19:30).

The two teams head into the encounter on the back of playing out to stalemates in their respective derbies over the weekend and will both be keen to get back to winning ways at the expense of each other.

For the Limpopo-based outfit, the draw against Polokwane City saw them climb up to a familiar turf in fourth place – a position they occupied on the log standings with an impressive 45 points at the end of the 2023/24 season.

However, Seema has refused to get ahead of himself on whether his team can maintain their position until the end of the campaign, arguing that things can change very quickly on the table with the season still in its early stages.

“Never, never, in fourth? It can change, last week it changed also, so the margins are small, that’s why we say as long as you’re not losing the [away] matches, you’re still collecting [points] here and there and then at home, you make sure that you collect the maximum points you continue,” he said.

“It’s still a long way to go. I still think this log is going to change even from position one to position 16, there’s still going to be some changes, there’s still a lot of games to be played and there’s still a long way to go.

“And we are happy for now with a point [vs Polokwane City], it’s adding to the three points that we got in the last game. We are okay with where we are but it’s still a long way to go. We’ve played 10 games, we have 17 points, it’s the first time in the club’s history at this time of the season.”

Ahead of their meeting with an AmaZulu side that has lost only two games in seven outings since the appointment of Arthur Zwane and Vusumuzi Vilakazi as co-coaches, the Babina Noko mentor is braced for a tough battle for supremacy against rejuvenated Usuthu.

“If you ask me how many points we want at AmaZulu I will tell you three straight away but a point we’ll take it. AmaZulu is playing well, it’s a team that has improved a lot and you can see also when we started, they were at the bottom of the log if you check now where they are,” Seema admitted.

“And the way they play, I think they were just unlucky not to have one or two goals against Golden Arrows, so we are expecting a very difficult game against AmaZulu but we are not surprised because as I said, the first set of games in 2025 are going to be very difficult.

“AmaZulu is also one of the teams that are always giving us problems, so it would be nice to have one over them. We are going there to fight and hopefully, we can get maximum points and that’s what we are looking for but if not we will take a point and build on that.” 

In all their seven match-ups in the top flight, the KZN side has won four and is currently on a six-game unbeaten run against Sekhukhune in the league, which includes four consecutive victories while the Limpopo club’s last win dates back to October 2021.