Kickoff (Cape Town)
9 January 2009
Santos defender Zvenyika Makonese, conspicuous in his absence during the Cape Town Derby on Wednesday evening, reveals that his non-appearance was as a result of a knee injury he aggravated ahead of the match.
As such, the Zimbabwe international is in a race against time to be fit for the club's next match against Golden Arrows on Sunday.
"I am happy that in my absence, the team emerged with a decent result. A draw is a satisfactory result of this nature," says the tough-tackling defender while adding that he is confident of recovering fully in time for the weekend encounter.
"It is not that serious and I am confident of featuring for the team. Arrows are a good side with talented players but I am confident we will continue with our current form."
Makonese has been out of action for the club since sustaining the injury in November and only came into contention for a berth in the team's last match of 2008, a come-from-behind victory over Kaizer Chiefs, but he was benched by coach David Bright.
Arrows, who enjoyed a superb start to the 2008/09 season, probably had a restless period over the Christmas break after suffering four defeats in their last five Premiership matches.
The poor run of form included a shock 2-1 reverse at home to Absa Premiership rookies Bay United, and has seen Arrows, who led the League for awhile, fall off the pace of current leaders Ajax.
The teams have met 18 times in all competitions since 2000/01. Santos have generally had the better of the fixture, winning seven games to Arrows' four and outscoring them 21 goals to 15.
In their 16 league meetings, Santos have won six times (three wins to Arrows) and scored 18 goals (13 goals to Arrows).
Last season Santos did a League 'double' over Arrows, winning 1-0 away from home in the first half of the season and 3-1 in the return game in Cape Town.
Danger man Erwin Isaacs scored in both of those wins for the Peoples' Team, so he will have to be closely watched by the Arrows defence.
In the previous five seasons (heading back to 2003/04), Arrows have managed just one win over Santos, a 1-0 victory in the second half of the 2004/05 season.
In both the 2005/06 and 2006/07 campaigns, the matches between these two teams ended in stalemates.
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