Iqram Rayners is on a double hat-trick, and how grand it would be were he to complete it against his former club. The Mamelodi Sundowns striker has found the net in the club’s last five matches, and the lure to make it six is sure to be the driving force of his performance tonight.
Rayners and Sundowns are away to Stellenbosch FC in the Betway Premiership tonight, looking to consolidate their position atop the 16-team table. You can bet Miguel Cardoso – the club’s new coach who started his reign on Sunday – will be banking on Rayners to give him a winning start to his league reign.
Rayners was on the scoresheet in the last two matches – both of them against Moroccan opposition in the CAF Champions League. He scored in the 1-1 draw at AS FAR Rabat before slotting home the match’s only goal as the Brazilians registered their first victory in the group stages when they hosted Raja Casablanca at Loftus Versfeld on Sunday.
Prior to those continental matches, he had also been on the mark in the domestic campaign, finding the net against Sekhukhune United, Magesi FC, and Marumo Gallants. He is confident they will bag maximum points against his former club and is enjoying contributing to the victories: “The Sundowns supporters must come join us and be behind the boys in Cape Town, and we will get the three points. I am happy to score the goals and keep the momentum.”
He has been in great scoring form since joining the multiple champions at the beginning of the season and has, in many ways, justified his billing as the marquee signing of the campaign. Rayners admits, though, that Stellenbosch will not be easy to beat, especially given that they go into the match on the back of a victory on the continent.
Like Sundowns, Steve Barker’s men have registered their first win in continental competition, with the team from the Cape Winelands winning 1-0 at Angola’s Lunda do Sul.
“I think it’s going to be a very tough game against Stellenbosch. They came from a good win, so they will give us a good fight. But most importantly for us is to focus on ourselves so we can get the three points,” Rayners said.
He might not have spoken about it, but there can be no denying that there will be some desire for Sundowns to get even, especially considering they were knocked out of the MTN8 by Stellies in the semifinal. That defeat undermined Manqoba Mngqithi’s start to his short-lived tenure in charge of Sundowns. Since then, he has been fired and replaced by Cardoso, who is unlikely to have vengeance as part of his pre-match talk.
The players, though, are sure to want to show Stellies who is boss, particularly in the league where they have been kings of the castle for the past seven seasons. Of course, Rayners might not have been part of that success in the past, but he joined Sundowns with the view of winning silverware, and with two titles – the MTN8 and the Carling Knockout – already eluding him and his new teammates, bet on the striker to give his all in a quest to help Sundowns hold on to the championship title.
Rayners is on a roll as far as scoring is concerned, and how he would love to make it three out of three at the expense of his former club.