Dondol Stars will be looking to claim a big scalp in the Nedbank Cup when they face Orlando Pirates in a quarterfinal match at Peter Mokaba Stadium on Saturday.
Kick-off is at 3:00 pm CAT.
FORM
Chaba Refete have enjoyed a fairytale run in the South African FA Cup having secured a surprise 5-4 win over AmaZulu FC on penalties after a 1-1 draw away in a Round of 16 clash on March 8.
Stars, who are making their debut appearance in the competition, claimed a 1-0 victory over Leruma United in a ABC Motsepe League Gauteng encounter on April 5.
Meanwhile, Pirates are in fine form having won five matches in a row across all competitions including a 2-1 victory Motsepe Foundation Champions side Venda FA in a Round of 16 clash on March 11.
The Buccaneers are eight-time Nedbank Cup champions and they are looking to go all the way and complete a cup double having already clinched this season's MTN8 title.
TEAM NEWS
Stars have no suspension concerns and they are yet to report any injuries ahead of their clash with the Buccaneers.
Pirates, on the other hand, also do not have suspension worries with Richard Ofori working on his match fitness after recovering from a long-term injury.
WHAT WAS SAID?
Dondol Stars coach Vincent Rammoni:
“We are still the same small club, we will try and learn from Pirates the same way we did against AmaZulu and SuperSport," Rammoni said.
“We know why and how we have reached this stage. There is a lot of work that has been done in the background.
"The two wins have put us under a lot of pressure, and now we have to work three times as hard.The Nedbank Cup has helped the technical team and the players in our journey to gain promotion to the first division [Motsepe Foundation Championship].
“We were conceding a lot of goals, now we are more ruthless and no longer concede cheap goals. We cannot use the same tactics we used in the previous rounds of the tournament because Pirates play a different kind of football.”
Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riviero
“We don’t want to think too much about the division they [Dondol Stars] play in. It’s very important to get the lead in the first half, we’re a very confident team when we are leading the games," Riveiro said.
“Obviously the ideal scenario is to go to the halftime with an advantage, it’s an emotional game when opponents feel like what they prepared it’s working.
“We need to show from the beginning that we are not gonna allow them to play but games are complicated. I'm sure there’s gonna be moments for both teams. I mean we felt very confident against Venda Football Academy but we found ourselves playing extra-time," he continued.
“We to be prepared for every scenario because you don’t know what can happen so we don't think it’s gonna be a piece of cake for us."
HEAD-TO-HEAD STATS
This will be the first-ever competitive meeting between Dondol Stars v Orlando Pirates