Bucs aiming to get back on track with Stars win

AUGUSTO Palacios will take charge of his first Absa Premiership match since replacing Muhsin Ertugral on an interim basis early this month when Orlando Pirates host winless Free State Stars at Orlando Stadium this evening.

Pirates have not won a Premier League game since their 2-1 victory away at winless Ajax Cape Town on September 13 and will have their hands full against a Stars team also still searching for its first taste of league victory.

The last time Pirates won a home match in the league was on the opening day of the season when they came back from a goal down to beat Golden Arrows 3-1 on August 24.

Bucs then won their second league match in succession away at Ajax Cape Town to take an early lead on the log standings.

Since then‚ the Buccaneers have slumped to four successive home draws before they were humiliated 6-1 by SuperSport United in their last match three weeks ago in Nelspruit.

Pirates go into the weekend in sixth place on 10 points and cannot move into the top five until the following week‚ depending on results.

Bucs have regular left-back Thabo Matlaba available for selection after he was released from the Bafana Bafana team who drew 1-1 away in Mozambique in Tuesday’s international friendly.

Matlaba returned with an injury that was never specified by either the club or the national team, having played the 90 minutes of Bafana’s 2-1 World Cup qualifying victory against Senegal in Polokwane on Saturday.

Pirates bounced back to winning ways in Palacios’s first match with a 21 Telkom Knockout quarterfinal win over visiting Highlands Park in their last match before the Fifa break.

Stars‚ too‚ come into this match confident after they dumped Chiefs out of the same Telkom with a penalties victory in Durban two weeks ago.

Stars have improved since the return of Italian Giovanni Solinas as head coach. They have reached the TKO semifinals by beating PSL league leaders Bidvest Wits and Chiefs.

Stars‚ winless in the League but unbeaten in their five matches in all competitions‚ have no injury or suspension worries ahead of this match, barring captain Paulus Masehe, who was ruled out for the rest of 2016 after suffering a serious injury in the Telkom win over Chiefs.

Stars are placed 14th with five points from eight matches. They are only two points ahead of 16th-placed Ajax.