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On Saturday Bucs have their traditional toughest fixture of the season, the Soweto derby against Kaizer Chiefs at FNB Stadium.
They follow that up with an away game against Ajax Cape Town’s hungry youngsters at Cape Town Stadium next Wednesday.
And if that programme was not tough enough, Pirates’ Telkom Knockout semifinal the Saturday after that (November 7) was drawn as a second derby in the space of a week against Chiefs.
All of this in the context of coach Eric Tinkler trying to turn around the Buccaneers’ unconvincing home form, and prepare his team mentally for the Caf Confederation Cup final against Tunisian club Etoile du Sahel next month.
It is small wonder that Tinkler broke a pen while on the bench watching a mixed-strength Bucs ease to a convincing enough 2-0 Telkom quarterfinal win against Maritzburg United at Orlando Stadium on Saturday.
"I’ve always been a very animated person. On Saturday perhaps a little bit more so," Tinkler admitted. "I knew, the players knew, we all knew how important the result was for us.
"We have a hectic schedule. The game against Arrows, the derby, another game against Ajax, then the Telkom semis. Then immediately after that we’ve got the Confed final.
"So you want to go into those games with momentum, morale high and the football we’re playing of a high standard."
Tonight Tinkler’s team face their second tricky KwaZulu-Natal opposition at Orlando in the space of four days.
Former Bafana Bafana assistant coach and Safa technical director Serame Letsoaka’s Arrows have impressed on their return to the PSL to be in eighth place, with just two defeats. Their surprise results have included a 2-1 home win against Mamelodi Sundowns, and last week’s 2-1 away victory over SuperSport United.
Indicating how inconsistent they can be, Arrows then lost 3-1 to SuperSport in the Telkom quarters in Polokwane on Saturday.
"Mentally our players played the second game against SuperSport thinking it will be a walk in the park," Letsoaka said.
"We could not get into the rhythm of our game. SuperSport effectively used pressing to counter our style of play and as such we played in patches here and there.
"The next game against Pirates will not be easy. They have not done well so far in the league and they will come full force to try and get maximum points."
Both teams have dangerous forward lines.
Kermit Erasmus scored just his second domestic goal of the season with a left-footed cracker against Maritzburg, suggesting the mercurial forward is beginning to find the form at home that netted him five goals in the Confed.
Source : BDlive.com
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