Orlando Pirates will look to book their place in the semifinals of the Telkom Knockout when they meet Golden Arrows at Orlando Stadium on Wednesday evening, kick-off at 7:30pm.
The Buccaneers defeated Mpumalanga Black Aces 3-1 in the previous round with Lennox Bacela scoring a brace before Oupa Manyisa added a third.
Roger De Sa’s side have also just returned from Tunisia where they drew 1-1 against Esperance to book their place in the CAF Champions League.
However, defender Happy Jele says they now need to shift their attention to domestic affairs and try to progress to the next round.
“For us, it’s time to put or heads down because we’re coming from a crucial game on Saturday and now we have another game on Wednesday so we need to focus,” said Jele.
“It’s difficult because we travel a lot and we play many games but we are adjusting.
“We respect Arrows and they need to respect us as well, but we want to go out there to enjoy the game and also work hard to get through to the next stage.
“I believe they will come wanting to beat us and we don’t have to relax thinking we’re just going to beat them.”
Arrows, on the other hand, booked their place in the last eight when they came back twice to beat Bidvest Wits 3-2 with Bongi Ntuli scoring a brace before Rudolf Bester netted a late winner.
Former Chippa United coach Mark Harrison then took over the reins at Abafana Bes’thende after Manqoba Mngqithi had tendered his resignation and this match will be his first test.
However, captain Thanduyise Khuboni is confident that his side will put up a good fight as they look to end Pirates’ recent dominance over them.
“Playing against Pirates is never easy, especially playing them away from home, but it’s up to us as experienced players to lead by example,” said Khuboni.
“It’s going to be a difficult game, they have a lot of top players and they are doing well at the moment but we are prepared for the game and we’ll go into it with a positive mentality.
“We have a new coach but we’ve been working hard at training and we’ll do our best on Wednesday.”
The two sides have met twice in the Telkom Knockout with both encounters ending in favour of the Soweto giants.
Pirates defeated Arrows 1-0 in the first round in 2010, before registering a 3-1 win in the semifinals in 2011 en route to winning the cup.
Bucs defender Siya Sangweni is out injured and will not be able to face his former club, while Arrows will be without brace-hero Ntuli, who is suspended for this clash.
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