What Matlaba said before Orlando Pirates match
What Matlaba said before Orlando Pirates match
Facing a former club is always good motivation, especially if that team is Orlando Pirates and your name is Thabo Matlaba.
THABO MATLABA ON FACING ORLANDO PIRATES
Soon before the game kicked off at the Harry Gwala Stadium at 15:00, Matlaba said it is a tough time to face Orlando Pirates.
“This is one of our biggest games of the season. A very difficult game because Orlando Pirates are on form. They won 7-1 against Golden Arrows, they won against AmaZulu 4-2 in the Nedbank Cup and they beat them again 1-0 in the league,” Matlaba told the Citizen.
“So, I don’t think that it’s going to be an easy game for us, but we’ve been working hard to win this game so that we can be in the top eight and that’s what we want, to finish in the top eight. And we’re not far from achieving that because a win in this game against Pirates will take us to 32 points and that will take us straight into the top eight.
“This is a big game and doesn’t need any motivation because we’re playing against a big club with good players. That’s a motivation by itself. We need to work hard, commit ourselves, be aggressive and compete against those players. That’s what we’ll need to win this game.
“They’re coming here at Harry Gwala and it’s not going to be easy for them, plus we’ve just come from a 3-2 win over Polokwane City at the same venue and we also drew 1-1 with Arrows away. So I think we’re on the right track and we’ve been playing well to be honest in those two games. We showed that we can score goals and I think we had night shots on target against Arrows, so we’re improving in that aspect of our game,” the former Orlando Pirates star concluded.
NEDBANK CUP ACTION
Meanwhile, the Buccaneers still have cup ambitions for this season. Jose Riveiro’s side will travel to the Eastern Cape this coming weekend. The occasion will be a Nedbank Cup semifinal battle against Chippa United at the Nelson Mandela Stadium. The game will kick off at 15:00 on Saturday.