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The PSL will keep a vigilant eye on the penultimate round of the NFD today.
All 16 NFD sides will be in action this afternoon as the race for automatic promotion as well as bids for survival in the second-tier league draw to a close.
PSL football operations manager professor Ronnie Schloss said stringent measures will be put in place to ensure fair play prevails.
This includes the order to have all matches played simultaneously until the final day on May 5.
“All the matches will kick off at the same time and we’ll have officials deployed at every game to monitor the situation,” said Schloss.
He said decisive fixtures will be flighted on TV as there won’t be any Premiership action on the final day of the NFD season next Sunday.
Already there has been allegations levelled against promotion-chasing Royal Eagles, that the KwaZulu-Natal outfit has benefited from dubious officiating in their games, accusations the club has vehemently denied.
Some clubs have insinuated that the Eagles – who are owned by Durban tycoons S’bu and Shauwn Mpisane – have been receiving favours, pointing at the 10 penalties that the team have been awarded in their chase for promotion.
Read: Stellenbosch FC close in on magical NFD mark
So far, TS Galaxy have lodged a formal complaint with the authorities, appealing to the PSL to have their game against Eagles replayed. Galaxy, who last weekend reached the Nedbank Cup final, alleges the Eagles won their encounter via a dubious penalty in the 1-0 victory a fortnight ago.
Eagles climbed up the table after a 3-1 win over Ajax Cape Town last weekend but their stay at the top was short-lived after Stellenbosch FC reclaimed pole position with their 2-1 win over Galaxy on Wednesday.
Stellies hold a two-point advantage atop the standings and are all set for automatic promotion provided they win their remaining two matches against Uthongathi FC and Maccabi FC.
Stellenbosch visit Cape Umoya United in a local derby; Eagles host the already relegated Witbank Spurs at Chatsworth today.
Ajax Cape Town – who host Uthongathi FC – are also still much in contention as any slipup among the top three will add further twists in the race for the golden ticket.
Today’s round of fixtures will also give an indication who between Jomo Cosmos, Maccabi, Real Kings and Ubuntu Cape Town is likely to follow Witbank Spurs by being relegated to the ABC Motsepe League.
Spurs’ demotion was confirmed by their 3-1 loss to Ubuntu last weekend.
Cosmos must avoid defeat when they host Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila at Makhulong Stadium; the Real Kings versus Ubuntu Cape Town fixture at Sugar Ray Xulu Stadium is a six-pointer.
If Kings win, they will drag Ubuntu down.
Today also provides Tshakhuma with the last realistic chance at a play-off spot while the Venda-based side also hopes Uthongathi will do them a favour by beating Ajax in Athlone.
The NFD champions will gain automatic promotion to the Absa Premiership, while the runners-up and a third place team will face a premier division side that finishes 15th.
The promotional play-offs are contested in a mini-league format that is played over two legs in which the table-topping side will gain promotion to the Absa Premiership.
