Pirates hoping to shake off holiday cobwebs
It wasn’t an opening to the year that many an Orlando Pirates fan would have hoped for as they played to a 1-1 draw with Bloemfontein Celtic this past weekend, but Bucs have a chance to make amends when they take on Polokwane City at the Peter Mokaba Stadium this evening.
The Buccaneers looked to be on song in their last game of the year in 2019, which saw new coach Josef Zinnbauer getting his first win when they beat Black Leopards 3-1 at the Orlando Stadium.
But things seemed to be a bit difficult for the Soweto side going into the second phase of the Absa Premiership as they only managed to get a point at Celtic.
Midfielder Fortune Makaringe (right) admitted that Celtic gave them a hard time, but was happy with the way the team gave their all on the day. And right now, they will put their full focus on their clash against Rise and Shine.
“It was a very tough game, very challenging but I have to give credit to the guys for a wellfought effort throughout the entire game.
“We played and we were even in control (of the game in the second half) even though they came at us. But then we stood our ground and stuck to the plan and had to absorb the pressure because we were in the lead, so they had to come to us,” said Makaringe.
“It has to start from the front, so we need to keep on working and making sure that we mark from the front so that we can avoid our opponents coming to our end and score goals. So, it will take a collective effort.
“We take each and every game as it comes and this one is done and dusted. We need to focus on our next one. We need to be 100% focused for our next game.”
Pirates face a Polokwane City side which managed to end a nine-game losing streak when they defeated Chippa United 2-0 this past weekend. The Limpopo-based side looked a bit more rejuvenated in their opening game of 2020, but going into this game Bucs will be looking to record their second consecutive victory against Rise and Shine having recorded a 3-2 win the last time they met.