Orlando Pirates will be favourites to beat winless Cape Town Spurs in their DStv Premiership clash on Wednesday, but they have certainly not had it all their own way in the Mother City in the past.
Spurs have lost all eight league games that have played since their promotion at the end of last season, that run extended to nine defeats if you include the 2-0 Telkom Knockout loss to Pirates in Orlando just 12 days ago.
Overall Pirates lead the head-to-head 33-18 from their 60 previous clashes since the first in 1985, but in Cape Town it is a different story.
The teams have played 31 times in the backyard of Spurs/Ajax Cape Town down the years, and they have managed nine wins apiece with 13 games drawn.
Spurs in fact went nine home games unbeaten against Pirates following their maiden meeting (W3 D6) before The Buccaneers finally found some success with a 2-1 away win in the 1998/99 season.
They won three in a row between 2002/03 and 2004/05, but then claimed only two victories in their next 11 visits, one in the 2007 SAA Supa8 quarterfinals and the other in the league.
The last time they clashed in Cape Town was in Spurs’ relegation season in 2017/18 and it was the home side who came out on top with a thumping 3-0 victory, handed to them after goals from Mosa Lebusa and Yannick Zakri (two).
That is Spurs’ joint biggest home win over Pirates, though a scoreline they have managed on three occasions, the others being their first meeting in 1985 and in 2010/12 when Khama Billiat scored twice. That was the year Pirates pipped Spurs to the title on goal-difference.
Pirates’ biggest win is also by a 3-0 scoreline, which they managed in the 2002/03 campaign, the late Lesley Manyathela among the goals.
CAPE TOWN SPURS VS ORLANDO PIRATES
Matches played in Cape Town
Played: 31
Spurs wins: 9
Pirates wins: 9
Draws: 13