There may be some split club loyalties at Milford FC ahead of their Nedbank Cup Last 32 clash with Kaizer Chiefs at the FNB Stadium on Sunday, but the players are eager to seize their moment in the spotlight, says coach Nkululeko Buthelezi.
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The second-tier side will have watched with interest how University of Pretoria dumped Cape Town Spurs out of the competition on Wednesday, and third-tier Highlands Park took Sekhukhune United to penalties before the latter eventually triumphed.
It shows the closing of the gap between topflight and lower league teams, and Milford will have ambitions of their own to add to that number.
There have now been 26 instances of lower league clubs beating top-flight sides in the Nedbank Cup since 2008, but 14 of those, or a little over half, have occurred in the last six years (including this year) as the gap closes considerably between top-tier clubs and those below them.
The Motsepe Foundation Championship side have some Nedbank Cup pedigree, they appeared in the Last 32 as a third-tier team in 2016, but lost 2-1 to provincial rivals Lamontville Golden Arrows.
They are in their first year as a second-tier team and while it has been a difficult transition, their clash with Chiefs presents them with the chance to become household names around the country.
Indeed, no topflight team has lost to lower league sides on more occasions than Chiefs’ six defeats since 2008.
“What I can say is the people most excited about this match are the players more than us (coaches),” Milford coach Nkululeko Buthelezi said. “I think they’ll do everything in their power to ensure they beat them because they’re more than fired up.”
The coach also said there were some split loyalties at the club, though he was of course speaking in jest.
“The owners of the club are Chiefs supporters themselves so I’m not sure about them, but the players, I can definitely tell you want to win the match,” he said with a smile.
As for Chiefs’ poor record against lower league sides, Buthelezi feels there is not too much to be read into that and that it will be a different day and a new ball game when they clash with the AmaKhosi in Soweto.
“As far as I can tell, they had their own plan on how they were going to beat Chiefs at the time, the same way we have our own at the moment,” Buthelezi said.
“The strategies will always differ but we are ready to face them and I can guarantee we will make it difficult for them.”
Milford are currently 12th in the MFC, with five wins from their 19 league games to date. They defeated Upington City 2-0 in the Nedbank Cup preliminary round to reach the Last 32.