Orlando Pirates assistant coach Fadlu Davids says the team’s focus is on collecting another three points, as they prepare to square off against Maritzburg United in the penultimate round of PSL fixtures on Wednesday.
Maritzburg United task awaits Orlando Pirates
For Davids, the clash would – under normal circumstances – mean a return to familiar surroundings at Harry Gwala Stadium, after spending a couple of seasons as the head coach of the Team of Choice. However, the abnormal atmosphere the league is being played under means that the men from KwaZulu-Natal have to see out the season with Lucas Moripe Stadium as their home base.
The former Bucs striker is expecting the tactics of old from Maritzburg, who are mentored by a former Pirates coach in Eric Tinkler.
“We face a Maritzburg United team – really organised team, not a team that builds up too much,” he told the Orlando Pirates website. “They do build up but extremely slow. On the one hand you want to take the confidence of the results but you don’t want to let that confidence to boil over to complacency. We know there’s six points at stake (but) our only focus now is on the three points and use that confidence to be able to play our game and to be able to play our football we want to play but not in an arrogant complacent way. Do the job, get the three points and go home.”
Finishing on a high
Pirates are coming off a much-needed victory in their last outing, where they held on to beat Supersport United 2-1 at Ellis Park.
The result propelled them up to fifth place, with a spot in Caf competition beckoning.
They will be looking for a good finish, having stuttered along since the PSL restart.
The match between Maritzburg and Pirates kicks off at 18:00.