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Serame Letsoaka

Orlando Pirates will be desperate to end their barren run in the Absa Premiership when they lock horns with an equally distressed Free State Stars outfit at the James Motlatsi Stadium tonight.

Kick-off is at 6:00pm.

Both teams are battling for survival at the wrong end of the log standings, with the Buccaneers currently on an 11 game winless run. Ea Lla Koto on the other hand sit in the relegation play-off spot, a mere four points from the foot of the table.

Head coach Serame Letsoaka is under no illusion of the task facing his troops in the final two months of the season, with the former Bloemfontein Celtic mentor having lamented his sides 2-2 draw vs a 10-man Ajax Cape Town unit in their last fixture.

“It’s starting to be a bit difficult now,” said Letsoaka. “We have nine games to go and these nine games will not be easy for us. We let it go against Maritzburg United and we let it go against Highlands Park. And I feel, to a certain extent, we also let it slip against Ajax Cape Town.

“But all I’m saying is that we have to win the games, we have to win and make sure that the teams who are closest to us [on the league table] will not get a result against us. We have to try as much as possible to do that.

“But I will say we are gaining confidence. We got two goals in the Nedbank Cup against Highlands Park and two in our last game against Ajax. It’s a positive for me,” Letsoaka concluded.

Free State Stars and Orlando Pirates will cross swords twice in the next couple of weeks, first in the league and then in the Nedbank Cup Round of 16.

Former Free State Stars attacker and current Sea Robbers ace, Dove Wome, is geared for the double-header against his former employers.

“We will be playing both games away from home which will not be easy so we need to be prepared,” Wome said.

“Free State Stars are a very good side especially when it comes to cup matches as they have shown recently when they knocked out Kaizer Chiefs in the Telkom Knockout Cup.

“Playing them back-to-back offers a different challenge; it’s easy for a team to fall into the trap by focusing on one competition over the other but not us. We will take it one game at a time and hopefully we can be successful in both,” the Togo international concluded.

In head-to-head stats, Stars and Pirates have met in 54 league matches since 1986.

The Buccaneers have 25 wins compared to seven for Ea Lla Koto, while 22 matches have been drawn.

Stars have won five of their 26 home league  matches against Pirates, suffering nine defeats in the process.

When the teams met earlier this season, the Buccaneers claimed a 1-0 home win in Soweto.

The teams’ last nine league meetings have produced just 13 goals.

— SuperSport