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City are currently on a nine-match winless streak in the league, form that has seen the Mother City outfit slump to 6th position on the league table. The Citizens recorded four draws and one loss in their last five matches and go into their next game on the back of a 1-1 stalemate with Golden Arrows last week.
Pirates on the other hand, bagged three wins in their last three DStv Premiership ties which included a mammoth 7-1 win against Abafana Bes’thende on the 6th of April. Sitting in third position, Pirates are three points behind second-placed Stellenbosch FC as Riveiro’s charges remain on course to finish in a CAF position this season.
Pirates recorded a 2-0 win when the two sides last met in the league, as goals by Zakhele Lepasa and Patrick Maswanganyi was enough for the Sea Robbers to bag maximum points at the Orlando Stadium in August last year.
What was said…
“It’s been the focus since the beginning of the season and an issue that we have tried to resolve. In a training week of five days, three are spent on final third entries. So, I don’t think it’s a lack of work. Maybe it’s just a lack of quality,” City coach Eric Tinkler said.
“As much as we’re still fighting to ensure that we finish in the top eight at the end of the season, at the same time we are assessing ourselves. If there’s one area of our game that is letting us down, is that final third.
“And now we have to find ways to improve on that area. Because I don’t think the system is the problem. I don’t think the defence is the problem.”
“Our focus is on ourselves. We must win every remaining game until the end,” Pirates coach Jose Riveiro said.
“We can’t control what our opponents do. They (Stellenbosch) have their matches to play. We try to concentrate on what we can control. Our performance and our next opponents, now we travel to Cape Town to face City on Wednesday and it is going to be key in collecting three points again because the top of the table is very tight.”