The new date for the much-awaited SAB League provincial play-offs was still unknown at the time of going to press.

The playoffs were initially scheduled for the weekend of 29 and 30 June at the Jane Furse Stadium in Sekhukhune and were postponed at the 11th hour.

According to the league co-ordinator, Mr Patrick Seema, the postponement was influenced by the fact that Waterberg District was still to produce the overall winner at that stage.

Teams from the five districts will fight for the two Safa second-division places. The top two teams at the end of the play-offs will be promoted to the Safa second division, better known as the Vodacom League.

Vhembe District will be represented by Joe’s Express FC at the annual event. The teams from the other districts who made it to the provincial play-offs are: Winners Park (Mopani), Masokolara FC (Sekhukhune) and Molemole Academy (Capricorn).

Each team will play four matches in a round-robin format over a period of two days. When asked how the postponement had affected their preparations for the play-offs, the spokesperson for Joe’s Express, Mr Edwin “Cafu” Ramphabana, said that they were always ready for anything. He revealed that they had played a number of friendly matches over the past four weeks as part of their preparations for the two-day event.

Ramphabana further said that all his players were razor sharp. He cited a number of players, including Thembisani Nevhulamba, Dakalo Ratshitanga and the team’s captain, Lenock Mabila, on whom they will pin their hopes during the playoffs.