Swallows expecting Buccaneer backlash

Moroka Swallows coach Musa Nyatama expects a backlash from Orlando Pirates when the long-standings Soweto rivals meet in the DStv Premiership in Dobsonville on Wednesday night.

It comes after Pirates ceded second place at the weekend when they went 2-1 down to Sekhukhune United in Polokwane and fell two places in the standings.

“That’s a difficult match ahead of us. They lost to Sekhukhune, we watched them, and we expect now they will come at us,” Nyatama said after Swallows ended a 13-match winless streak, stretching back to November, by snatching a late winner to emerge victorious at Cape Town Spurs on Sunday.

“They will want maximum points but we are playing at home so we should be doing the business. In terms of changes, I'm not sure, I still need to think about that. But I think I'll freshen up the team a little bit.”

Nyatama was pleased with Swallows three-point haul in Cape Town on the Easter weekend with Frank Mhango netting a last-minute winner.

“The points that we got against Spurs takes off the pressure a little bit. Spurs had been playing very well, collecting points, but we also need to focus on ourselves to get the maximum points.”

Swallows had been in 14th place but moved up to 13th and have 24 points with nine games left to play in the season.

“We've got another 27 points to play for. Let's see how many points we're going to get. But we'll try and reach the maximum but just take it one game at a time.

“There's too much pressure, especially at the bottom. You know, each and every point counts. We lost 4-1 at home to Sekhukhune in our last home game and that was not easy to take. But I had to lift my head up and encourage the players that they can do this, even after we lost in the cup. Maybe that will turn out to be a blessing in disguise so we can focus on the league and not have any other distractions,” Nyatama added.