Malesela asks his Chippa players to show character against Pirates

Dan Malesela is expecting a tough challenge when his Chippa United side take on Orlando Pirates, but says his players just need to show the character they have displayed in their away games.

ALSO READ: Pirates not focusing on league title yet – ZInnbauer

United have secured two wins, two draws and one loss away from home in the league, whereas at home, the Chilli Boys have only won one game, while recording three draws and one loss.

“It’s going to be difficult to play Pirates, they have a huge squad. They can change at any given time, but what we need here is just the character we have showed when we are on the road. We have to build on that. We need to continue building and getting better results,” said Malesela.

The Chilli Boys are in 12th place on the log after 17 games. Only six points separates them with eighth placed TS Galaxy.

Bucs have a good record against Chippa and have won 11 games out of 15 matches played between the two teams. United have only managed three victories against their weekend opponents.

Looking at the last encounter between the sides, the Buccaneers emerged as 1-0 winners courtesy of a Fortune Makaringe strike, as Chippa finished the game with one man down after Sandile Mthethwa got a red card.

Makaringe, who was the hero after scoring during Pirates clash with Bloemfontein Celtic in their previous game should be itching to put his name on the score-sheet again.

With the season half-way through, it will be vital for Malesela’s team to start collecting points in order to make sure they find themselves in the top half of the league table at the end of the season.

But like Malesela said, it will be difficult to come up agaisnt Bucs, who are on a seven games unbeaten run in all competitions.

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.