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By Tshepo Ntsoelengoe

Football Journalist


Orlando Pirates lack stability upfront – Ncikazi 

"We are just missing one part, we are not scoring goals," says Ncikazi.


Orlando Pirates co-coach Mandla Ncikazi will be hoping his side utilise their goal scoring chances when they host SuperSport United in a DStv Premiership encounter at the Orlando Stadium on Wednesday.

ALSO READ: Plan is to finish second, says Pirates’ Ncikazi ahead SuperSport showdown

The Bucs mentor reckons his charges have been playing some good football throughout the season, and their major problem has been finding the back of the net.

The Soweto giants have recorded 11 draws in their last 22 games so far this season, the second team in the league with most draws after AmaZulu FC, who have 14 draws.

“You can see that we are a team that has instability upfront. You can look at the changes. In the previous match we played Kwame Peprah and Zakhele Lepasa. On Sunday, we played Peprah in the first half and we changed him during half-time. We are just missing one part, we are not scoring goals. If you look at all our games, Golden Arrows, Cape Town City, Kaizer Chiefs, we deserved to win. We created more chances than the opponents. When you set up your team, you want to create chances and score them, but what gets missed in our play is scoring,” said Ncikazi.

“I am sure in all the draws we have played in the league we were the dominant team. But I understand partly that we are a team with players that are only coming in now, lots of players didn’t go through pre-season, but we are here.”

The Sea Robbers face a SuperSport side, which is looking to secure a top eight spot finish, with Matsatsantsa currently occupying seventh place with 29 points after 20 matches played. 

How it ended between Pirates and SuperSport in the past

There was a time when SuperSport always having the better of Pirates, with Matsatsantsa thrashing the Buccaneers when the teams met, but things have seemed to look better for Pirates recently.

Below, we look at the last five meetings between the sides:

24/02/21

SuperSport 1 Pirates 1

21/11/20

Pirates 2 SuperSport 1

14/08/19

SuperSport 3 Pirates 1

20/02/19

SuperSport 1 Pirates 0

15/09/18

Pirates 3 SuperSport 1

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