Royal AM will be looking to get their first win over the Orlando Pirates when the two clubs meet on Wednesday night in a DStv Premiership match at the Chatsworth Stadium. Kick-off is at 7.30pm.
The KZN club, made famous by their flamboyant owners Shauwn “MaMkhize” Mkhize and son Andile Mpisane, had a wonderful first year in their maiden season in the PSL.
They gave many already-established clubs a torrid time and they even qualified for the CAF Confederations Cup, after finishing third on the log table. Last season, the two sides played two draws, 1-1 in the first round at Orlando Stadium and a 2-2 at the Chatsworth Stadium in the return match. The ambitious MaMkhize will definitely want the scalp of the much-fancied Bucs and will stop at nothing to humiliate them, just like he did when he defeated Kaizer Chiefs twice last season.
In their three league matches so far this season, Thwihli Thwahla again defeated Amakhosi and Chippa United but were hammered by Stellenbosch FC. Pirates on the other have had a rather lukewarm start to the season. They have won one, drawn the same number and a single draw. Royal AM are fifth on six points while the Buccaneers are sitting at number eight with four points.
Pirates new coach from Spain Jose Riveiro is still haunted and baffled by how they managed to lose against Chippa United on Sunday, after they created a bunch of scoring opportunities. Chippa’s Abdi Banda sneaked in the late winner that broke the hearts of the Buccaneers in their fortress.
“Well, I’m sad with the result but very proud of our performance, I think we did everything in order to win, we generated the chances, kept the counter-attacks under control,” Riveiro said after the Chippa loss.
Pirates attackers are low on confidence and Deon Hotto, Thembinkosi Lorch, Eva Nga and Kwame Pepra and Vincent Pule will have to bring their A-game if they want to revive the fortunes of the Buccaneers. Nga scored Bucs’ solitary goal in their three games so far.
“One set-piece in the end punished the guys, punished us, it’s a game that we’ve seen many times in football history, one team dominating, creating chances, not scoring. The other one having one chance, a set-piece in this case and getting the advantage and three points. Just improve the finishing, maybe we need to grow a bit more confidence in the last minutes that’s the key. We can face the game creating clear chances and when we do that we’re always going to be close to winning. We have to improve what we’re doing and improve in the last minutes, like I said – maybe it’s a question of confidence but it will come,” Riveiro added.
Pirates’ shaky defence will have to keep a hawk’s eye on Royal AM free-scoring striker Andre de Jong who is leading the PSL goalscoring charts with three goals in as many matches. Ruzaigh Gamildien is also a dangerman and has already opened his account after arriving from Swallows in the off-season.
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