Orlando Pirates captain Happy Jele has backed his side to bounce back from their midweek DStv Premiership loss to Lamontville Golden Arrows when they face Uthongathi in the Nedbank Cup last 32.
Pirates were beaten 2-0 in Durban as their see-saw form continued, and Jele says they will prepare well and find their consistency to defeat the second-tier side in the knockout competition.
“It is very difficult to play a team you don’t know, but we can’t decide who we play and just have to prepare very well. We will start to analyse them today, so that come the match we will be prepared. Everybody is working hard so that we can play on the weekend. We want to win the Nedbank Cup this year,” Jele told reporters.
“Each and every game we want to play well as a team, but in some of the games we lose because of a lack of concentration at times. We need more effort and consistency to try to win as many games as possible.
We can’t afford to lose games like we did yesterday. We have to work as a team and improve. When we won our previous trophy in the MTN8, we need that spirit again.”
Jele also feels that criticism of coach Josef Zinnbauer is unfair.
“Each and every coach comes with his own philosophy and we have to adapt to that. So far the coach has done well, we won a trophy under him.
Things have gone wrong in terms of the Premiership, but the only thing we need is consistency. All-in-all we have been playing well, the effort is there. The coach is there to help us fix those mistakes and keep on going.”
Pirates have not won the Nedbank Cup since they beat Bidvest Wits 3-1 in the final in 2014.