Fixtures are coming in thick and fast for Orlando Pirates who remain on the road as they journey down to Cape Town for a Betway Premiership encounter with Stellenbosch on Tuesday night.
Athlone Stadium hosts this mouth-watering encounter between two teams challenging for the summit of the table. Both sides will be taking to the field just three days after encountering gruelling cup assignments over the weekend.
Form Guide
The Buccaneers are Stellies’ second Soweto opponents inside a week, following their Nedbank Cup clash against Kaizer Chiefs. The match produced a result that did not go their way as they fell to a 3-1 defeat in what was a home fixture held at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, ending their run in the competition in the quarter-finals.
It also halted a six-match unbeaten run across competitions, which had consisted of league wins against TS Galaxy, Magesi and Marumo Gallants as well as one cup victory. Two additional points were secured via stalemates, and helped to maintain the spot in the top three of the Premiership standings where they sit eight points behind the second-placed Pirates.
While mixing it up with the best in the league throughout the campaign, the Maroons’ home form has been somewhat of a concern. They have hosted 10 Premiership fixtures, only getting over the line in just three for a total of 13 points through the course of the season. Only five of these have come in their last five matches, with the majority coming through their recent clash against Dikwena tsa Meetse.
Their immediate goal will be to turn a corner when they host a side that has encountered its own problems on the road of late. Pirates do however approach this particular fixture with some momentum on their side following back-to-back triumphs away from Soweto. They edged Chippa United in the league in midweek before scraping past SuperSport United through penalties in their Nedbank Cup quarter-final held in Polokwane.
Prior to what has been a fruitful week, they had won just one of their last four games on the road. While their league standing remained largely unaffected, they are faced with significant ground to cover in their pursuit for top spot.
Success in the Mother City will be high on the list of priorities for the Soweto Giants with fixtures not getting any easier ahead of the year’s first international break.
Team News
Pirates will have a welcome boost in their defensive options heading into the clash. The experienced Nkosinathi Sibisi is back from suspension and will likely form part of the travelling party.
They could soon be bolstered elsewhere as well with a few of their walking wounded nearing a return to action.
Stellenbosch meanwhile have been rocked by the unavailability of a few key players through suspension. Goalkeeper Sage Stephens and defender Ismael Toure will both sit out the encounter after each player earned a booking which triggered a one-match ban during the defeat to Chiefs.
Key Players
Sipho Chaine (Orlando Pirates): Pirates’ last line of defence has often been the difference in tight matches, and another big performance could be required from him in a testing assignment away from home. The shot-stopper is among the glovemen with the most league clean sheets this season and was one of the standouts for Pirates over the weekend, with his heroics extending to the decisive shootout.
Devin Titus (Stellenbosch): Responsible for some key moments in each of his last two encounters with the Buccaneers, the speedy winger goes into this particular fixture in solid form. Titus has hit double figures in goals scored across competitions this season, hurting opposition defences with his pace and eye for goal.
Head-to-Head
Pirates are ahead in terms of head-to-head results in this fixture, but only by a fine margin. In the 13 league matches between the two sides, the Buccaneers boast five wins with Stellenbosch hot on their heels after securing four victories.
Premiership wins over the men from the Winelands have however been a rarity of late for the Soweto Giants. They head into Tuesday’s fixture desperate to avoid conceding a league double, following their narrow defeat at Orlando Stadium during the opening half of their campaign which stretched their losing streak against the Maroons to three games.
This winless run has spanned over two years while Pirates’ only away victory over Stellenbosch dates back to March 2022 when they claimed a 3-0 win at Danie Craven Stadium. It’s a result that is largely responsible for their slightly superior goal-scoring record on the road, where they have accounted for four of the seven goals scored in spite of the fact that their four other visits to Stellies have produced two defeats and as many stalemates.
TV Coverage and Ticket Info
The fixture is scheduled to kick off at 19:30 and will be broadcast live on SuperSport PSL. You can also follow the action by keeping an eye on live updates posted across Orlando Pirates social media channels. Tickets are available online at TicketPro as well as selected outlets nationwide
