Staff Reporter.
Orlando Pirates will be looking to record their first win of the season when they welcome their Soweto neighbours, Swallows FC, to Orlando Stadium in a PSL encounter on Saturday.
Kick-off is at 3:00 pm CAT.
remain winless this season having recorded their second successive draw in the league when they drew 0-0 with Marumo Gallants away in their last match on August 24.
They will be without Ntsikelelo Nyauza once again with the 31-year-old defender having picked up a straight red card in Pirates’ 2-2 draw against Stellenbosch FC in a league game almost two weeks ago.
Mandla Ncikazi, Pirates’ co-interim coach, says the team played with confidence against Gallants, but they need to improve in the final third as they look to avenge last month’s MTN8 quarterfinal loss to Swallows.”With time we may improve but there is progress. There is confidence which is important to win. We need to isolate one side to overload and work on our entries,” Ncikazi said.
“We have a lot of work to do. In the first game [against Swallows] we had problems at the back. We were superb at the back [against Gallants]. We do need to fix what is happening in the final third.”
Meanwhile, Swallows are still undefeated this term having drawn 0-0 with Cape Town City in the MTN8 semifinal first-leg match away on August 29.
Prior to the encounter against City, the Beautiful Birds, who do not have any suspensions, had drawn 0-0 with AmaZulu FC away in a league match over two weeks ago.
The recent Fifa international break came at the right time for Swallows according to the club’s head coach Brandon Truter, who revealed where his side needs to improve after their clash with City.
“There were no legs, you can be aggressive, but you don’t go, your mind tells you another thing, but you can’t move. That’s something we have to look into,” Truter said.
“Now we have a break. We have time to work on it and we have time to recover from this game as well. It has been massive last week for us.”
In head-to-head stats since 1985, Swallows and Pirates have clashed 62 times in the league.
Pirates have dominated this rivalry having registered 23 wins compared to 12 for Swallows,while 27 games ended in draws.
Pirates also have the upper hand when looking at their home record against Swallows having registered 12 wins, 14 draws, and six defeats from 32 matches.
DSTV Premiership Weekend Fixtures:
Saturday, 11 September:
Orlando Pirates vs Moroka Swallows – 15:00
TS Galaxy vs Golden Arrows – 15:00
Baroka FC vs Maritzburg United – 17:00
Sekhukhune United vs Stellenbosch FC – 17:00
Sunday, 12 September:
Royal AM vs Chippa United – 15:00.
Mamelodi Sundowns vs Kaizer Chiefs – 17:00.