Casric Stars coach confident ahead of facing wounded Pirates | OneFootball

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Casric boss optimistic for Bucs clash

Photo: Grant Pitcher/ Gallo Images

Casric Stars head coach Bucs Mthombeni is optimistic his side can secure a favorable result against Orlando Pirates in the Nedbank Cup Round of 16, subject to perfect execution of their game plan.

The Motsepe Foundation Championship side, who booked their spot with a victory over North West ABC Motsepe League team Army Rockets, will visit the Orlando Amstel Arena on Saturday.

Mthombeni, who also serves as the club's Chairman, acknowledges that playing in front of the passionate Bucs faithful won't be a walk in the park, but insists football is a 90-minute game played on the pitch.

“I know it's difficult to play Orlando Pirates at Orlando Stadium because if you can look at the results, I think they don't lose games when they play at Orlando Stadium and secondly the supporters come in numbers and I think the coach hasn't lost a game there,” he said.

"But on the day, the football doesn't have therefore. If we can go there and just stick to our game plan and not have any fear, I think anything can happen. And then the other thing as per our plan, we need not to concede too early and we can't just go there and play an open game.

"But we will try to stick to our game plan because if you check our last seven games that we played, we had five clean sheets. We are also a team that is not conceding much and our results this year - we've got better results away than at home.

"We are a team that actually scores a lot but we defend very well. We played seven games, we only conceded three goals and if you look at Pirates I think they played nine games but they only conceded yesterday [Wednesday] after approximately seven to eight games. If we can contain the pressure for 30 minutes, I think the result can go anywhere.

With Pirates coming off the back of losing to Mamelodi Sundowns in a top-of-the-table Betway Premiership clash on Wednesday, the Casric boss expects the Soweto giants to come with all guns blazing.

"But after yesterday's game because I know that Pirates wanted a draw - the way the game was too tactical - I was at the stadium - I think they will try by all means to come at us. We need to make sure that we stick to our game plan and our players not to have fear when we get there because I think we are going to play against a full capacity,' Mthombeni added.