Kickoff (Cape Town)
8 January 2009
Orlando Pirates captain Lehlohonolo Seema says he and his teammates are standing united, with one purpose in mind this weekend, and that is to bring down SuperSport United.
Speaking on the club's website, the skipper refers to SuperSport as their 'hoodoo' team and says they want to put that ghost to rest in their very first game of the season on Saturday at Johannesburg Stadium.
Kick off is at 20h00.
"Matsatsantsa have been our hoodoo team for some time now and we cannot continue to come out second best every time we face them.
"However, I must point out that our previous encounters were not necessarily one-sided affairs - if anything I think we often dominated the games, but our failure to convert the numerous chances we created is what cost us at the end, in particular, the MTN 8 competition last year, where we dominated the most part of the game only to lose 2-1 to them," he says.
Pirates will be without suspended Dikgang Mabalane, and injured defenders Innocent Mdledle, Destin Makita and midfielders Tlou Segolela and Thulasizwe Mbuyane for the match.
But on the positive side, Teko Modise has recovered from his injury, as well as Thembile Kanono, Lebohang Mokoena, Josephy Kamwendo, Joseph Makhanya and Excellent Walaza, who are all fighting for a place in the starting line-up.
Bucs host Maritzburg United on Wednesday next week and then Golden Arrows after that. They complete a busy January schedule with an away fixture against Bidvest Wits on January 24 and then take on visiting Bay United on January 31.
Seema is optimistic that they have a good chance of bagging all 12 points on offer before the end of January and as he adds: "With the fight for survival and League success hotting up, no team has the luxury of dropping points anymore."
But Pirates coach Ruud Krol knows he faces a tough battle against SuperSport. It was Gavin Hunt's men that knocked the Buccaneers out of the MTN 8 competition at the Johannesburg Stadium at the start of the season, winning 2-1. But the former Dutch captain was still settling in after taking over a month earlier.
"The coach has settled in well since then. United are always a tough hurdle. We want to set the record straight after that defeat in the MTN 8.
"Beating United will be a massive boost, but we also know if we are to achieve our goal of winning the league, we have to win our home games.
"That is why starting on Saturday we face a testing seven days where we need to restart the League campaign on a winning note," said, club communications manager, Mickey Modisane.
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