Keeping a clean sheet against Jwaneng is vital, says Pirates’ Motshwari

Orlando Pirates have a good advantage going into the first leg of the Caf Confederation Cup playoffs against Jwaneng Galaxy at the Botswana National Stadium on Sunday.

ALSO READ: Botswana outfit Jwaneng ready for Orlando Pirates

Jwaneng have not been competitively active since last year December when they were booted out of the Caf Champions League by Mamelodi Sundowns.

It’s been almost a year now since the Botswana outfit’s domestic league has been suspended. And the club had been relying on friendly games to prepare for their encounter with the Buccaneers.

Pirates had into this match having won two of their last two games and the confidence in team should be high going to Gaborone.

Bucs midfielder Ben Motshwari says they have prepared well for the clash and their main objective is to come out with a clean sheet away to make things simple for them in the return leg.

“The preparations went especially with our 2-0 victory against Cape Town City, the confidence is high amongst the guys. We are going away to play Jwaneng Galaxy. It’s going to be tough, but we saw them when they played Mamelodi Sundowns. What’s important for us going into this match is to keep a clean sheet and wrap it up when we play at home,” said the midfielder.

“Playing away is always difficult because you might find that the pitch is not right and the area (atmosphere) because we are not familiar to it. Keeping a clean sheet is always vital for an away team to make things easy when they come back home. Our main focus will be to keep a clean sheet, but also try to score away goals.”

The Pirates midfield maestro adds that they learnt what kind of a team their opponents from Botswana are, but what’s important for them is to ensure that they get the best possible result for the club.

“When we saw them against Sundowns we saw that they are a ball position team, they like to keep the ball, especially their wingers. But we don’t want to focus on them. We just have to focus on ourselves and doing what’s best for the club.”

Pirates and Jwaneng Galaxy are meeting for the very first time this weekend.

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