Pirates ready to humble ‘favourites’ Chiefs

The Buccaneers take on Amakhosi in what is anticipated to be a thriller of clash in the quarterfinal of the Telkom Knockout at the Moses Mabhida Stadium this afternoon.

READ: Which Soweto giant will fall in TKO?

Going into this game, the Buccaneers haven’t been on their best, while Amakhosi have been enjoying some fine form which many might consider them favourites ahead of this match.

“I guess it’s a matter of opinion on how you look at sport, or how you look at matches. Does form play a part or do you look at it on one particular day and whoever shows up or performs well stands more chance of getting a victory? It depends on how you look at it, if you look at it in terms of form Chiefs are in a good space. And I’m sure as a collective they feel good about themselves due to all the facts that we have mentioned, whether they have been scoring or conceding or they have been winning in their last seven games,” said the Bucs shot-stopper.

“One might say when you look at form you can earmark them as favourites, but again, on the derby day everybody is emotional, everybody will be up for it and anything can happen. I think for us as players, we have training, we have a plan, we have strategies and we just have to focus on implementing that and hoping that individuals come to the party and we get a good result.”

Looking at their last games though, both sides come into this tie having won their matches, with Pirates earning a victory against Highlands Park, while Chiefs edged Mamelodi Sundowns 2-0 in the League.

And knowing that the bragging rights are at stake, Sandilands added that they will treat this game like any other game and they will be focusing on getting more positive results.

“We just treating it as any other match and as an opportunity and a challenge. We have been discussing as a group to focus on ourselves right now. We know what we are capable of doing, so if we can focus on our strength and what we good at then we stand a good chance come Saturday.”

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