Orlando Pirates are looking to make it two wins from two when they travel to the Danie Craven Stadium to face Stellenbosc FC in their next DStv Premiership clash on Wednesday evening.
Stellies are looking to secure their first win of the new campaign after they were forced to share the spoils with Marumo Gallants following their goalless draw.
Buccaneers new signing Bienvenu Eva Nga scored the winning goal to hand Pirates a narrow 1-0 win over rivals Swallows at the Orlando Stadium.
BETTING ODDS: PIRATES ARE 2.3/1 TO WIN AWAY
Stellenbosch occupy 11th place in the league while the Sea Robbers currently sit in third place on the table. Level on three points with Richards Bay and Mamelodi Sundowns in second and first place respectively.
When the two teams met in the DStv Premiership last season, Pirates came out the better side after securing four points out of a possible six following a thrilling 2-2 draw at the Orlando Stadium before the Buccaneers secured a comfortable 3-0 win at the Danie Craven Stadium in the return leg.
“It’s never easy playing away from home, especially the first game of the season and to travel all the way to Polokwane so based on the performance we’ll take the point away from home,” Stellies coach Steve Barker said.
“Obviously that point only becomes important if we can follow that up with three points at home on Wednesday evening against Pirates, who showed already that there’s definite signs of improvement in the way they played.
“Their centre-back pairing is really solid and they come off a win so they’ll be wanting to take that momentum into Wednesday but at the same time we have to impose ourselves. It is our home game and we have to make sure we put in a performance that puts us in a position to take all three points.”
“We put attention in every department. I would like to always finish the game (winning) rather than sitting here and talking about the chances we missed,” said Pirates coach Jose Riveiro.
“But you can be sure that if we continue creating this amount of chances, we will score more than one goal usually.”
Steve Barker has only one player on the injury list in the form of Juan Carlos Ortíz, while Pirates coach Jose Riveiro will have a fully fit squad for the match.
Glen Hahn will be looking to open his account for Stellies after failing to score in their opening match against Gallants as he looks to fill the void left by Ashly Du Preez, who made a move to Kaizer Chiefs.
Eva Nga Bienvenu will be relishing the chance to get his name on the score sheet after hitting the ground running by scoring the winning goal on his debut for the Buccaneers.