Pirates bracing themselves for ‘awkward’ Royal AM

Orlando Pirates will be looking to build on a winning momentum when they take on Royal AM in a DStv Premiership encounter at the Orlando Stadium on Thursday.

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After managing to qualify for the Caf Champions League group stages with a 1-0 aggregate victory over Diable Noirs last weekend, Pirates co-coach Fadlu Davids hopes that the win will help them overcome the KwaZulu-Natal side, but he acknowledges coming up against “Thwihli Thwahla” will not be an easy task for them.

“Of course we are playing a difficult side, an awkward side with a five defence line. It’s a continuity of Bloemfontein Celtic of last season, plus adding the strength of the Royal AM players. It’s a really tough encounter, one we have to unlock a five defence line, one we have to signify our dominance in the game. We have a home game and it’s about us unlocking and scoring goals,” said Davids.

“Good win, we can take a lot of positives from qualifying for the next round of the Caf. We take these positives and build on them, continuing the momentum. We want to keep a dominant performance and a dominant performance will equal a good result.”

Pirates head into this clash having not been able to register a win in their last three league matches, as they lost 2-0 to Mamelodi Sundowns, before playing to a 1-1 draw with Cape Town City and a 0-0 draw with Maritzburg United. They have accumulated 10 points in their last seven games.

Royal AM, on the other hand, are enjoying a good start into the season with the KZN side on five games having won four and drawing one game.

They occupy fifth place on the log standings with 13 points, having played the same number of games as Bucs. Getting three points in this tie will see them go just three points behind log leaders Sundowns, who are at the summit of the table with 19 points.

Kick-off for Bucs and Thwihli Thwahla is set for 5.30pm.