Riveiro says battle for points is tough ahead of Galaxy clash

Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro says the scrap for points before the year is out will make their clash with TS Galaxy in the DStv Premiership even more difficult when the sides lock horns at Orlando Stadium on Saturday night.

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Riveiro believes every team is fighting for every point on offer, so they can go into the break in a good position on the league standings.

“In our experience with Galaxy, we never get an easy game and I don’t think this time is going to be an exception,” said Riveiro this week.

“We are at a moment of the season where the fight for points is tough, because I guess everyone wants to go to the end of the first part of the season in a good position, and to start again after that. The points are important for both teams.”

Pirates face a Galaxy side high on confidence, with the club having secured their place in the final of the Carling Black Label Knockout after beating AmaZulu last weekend.

Tails up

However, Pirates also have their tails up following their victory against Moroka Swallows in a midweek league clash. Riveiro says that even though they are playing two games in one week, they started preparing for the Rockets clash a while ago.

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“It’s a short week, preparations for this game started last week and early this week, before we played Swallows. It’s a week with two games and three days to recover … trying to recover the ones (players) who played (against Swallows) as well and quickly as possible,” he added.

“The mood is good after the last performance (against Swallows). We are fully motivated.”

Going into this weekend’s matches, Pirates were in sixth place on the log with 19 points from 12 games, while Galaxy are occupying 11^th spot after collecting 15 points from the same number of fixtures.