As Amakhosi defender Patrick Mayo boarded a flight from Cape Town International Airport back to Johannesburg with the rest of his teammates on Wednesday afternoon, the Chiefs defender was one of the more popular figures as he was congratulated by a number of well wishers at the airport.

To think that a year ago the Port Elizabeth native Mayo had contemplated throwing in the towel and leaving Chiefs to play elsewhere is well neigh impossible. After seeing out the first part of last season on the bench, Mayo grabbed the opportunity with two hands when given time out in the middle, he quickly established himself at the centre of the defense.

Mayo’s exploits towards the end of the season helped Chiefs win the ABSA Cup as he was named player of the tournament. He was also the man of the match when Chiefs defeat PSL Champions Sundowns in the semifinals and a week before he received a similar accolade when he scored as the Amakhosi came from behind to win a league game against Silver Stars with a 2-1 scoreline.

The significance of the latter two results is that both games were played at the Bafokeng Sports Palace outside of Rustenburg. Mayo excelled in both of those games and even played the Sundowns game with a broken toe. As he returns with the rest of the Chiefs team to the Bafokeng Sports Palace to take on Orlando Pirates in a Vodacom Challenge Game on Thursday, Mayo will be hoping for a hat trick of good results and personal accolades at the Sports Palace. Speaking from The Amakhosi’s base in Tshwane where they moved to yesterday after being in Stellenbosch since last Thursday.

An upbeat and excited Mayo said of achieving his hat trick at the Palace “really it is not about Patrick Mayo but about the team being able to do 0well, obviously because of our recent record at the Bafokeng Sports Palace I feel confident that as a team we will be able to fend off the challenge of Pirates”.

Mayo is equally confident that the team and himself on a personal level will be able to display the same kind of form that they did in the narrow defeat to Manchester United on Tuesday in Cape Town adding “I feel that with the way we played against United we proved to ourselves firstly and our supporters that when it comes down to the crunch we are a team of quality players and we can play well”.

The Chiefs defender who of late has been in a purple patch of form does not believe that much can be read into Pirates 4-0 defeat at the hands of United last Saturday as results in the Soweto derby recently have shown that form book is no guide for what the outcome of the game can be when Chiefs take on arch rivals Pirates.

Mayo added “it has been said time and again that the form of either team going into a Chiefs Pirates game means nothing, don’t let what happened on Saturday mean anything this after all is the Soweto derby. When Chiefs play Pirates it is for pride we have had a good record against them recently, we want to keep that up in the same way that they will be out looking for a reversal of fortune against us”.

Mayo who was on the front line of the Chiefs defense against United making a number of crucial tackles as helped Chiefs hold the fifteen time English league champions at bay for more than 80 minutes. Said of Tuesdays game “I really enjoyed playing against United and I felt that as a team we have grown and gelled well together, all the guys held their nerve and no one was really affected by the fact that we were playing against Man United”

Changing his attention back to Pirates Mayo was both confident and cautious in his approach saying

“The perimeters of this game are different than United Pirates for the mere fact that we have a history between us that dates back a long time, and a rivalry that can match any other in the world also we are currently both on one victory each in the Vodacom Challenge and we will be looking to be leading them statistically” said Mayo.

He continued further by saying “from our side we are further motivated by the fact that should we win we will face Man United in the final and really we want a second go at them, we do believe we can once again push them all the way and spring a surprise”.

Old friendships will be tested and old rivalries will be renewed on Thursday evening when Chiefs and their age old foe meet at the Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace in Rustenburg for the right to take on Manchester United in the final of the Vodacom Challenge on Saturday. Chiefs will fancy their chances as the Amakhosi have shown better form and touch in their last couple of friendly games and have been playing a good well structured game. Kick off for the Soweto Derby is at 20h15 and will be screened live on SABC.