Given his love affairs for derby matches it is no wonder that Chiefs coach Muhsin Ertugral is highly optimistic about his team leaving the North West Province with three points, and what could be a morale lifting win over arch rivals Orlando Pirates on Saturday afternoon in Mmabatho. A very animated and talkative Ertugral over saw his teams final training session ahead of Saturdays vital match up at sun set time on Friday at the Mmabatho stadium, and the coach already has his plans and approach in place for the match which is to be watched by a capacity crowd in Mmabatho. With both teams currently placed outside of the top eight Ertugral knows that a loss will put Chiefs in danger of not qualifying for next season top eight, the Chiefs coach is not looking in that direction. Instead he is looking towards Pirates goal and with Chiefs playing consistently well and losing just one of their last five league games, while drawing one and winning three Ertugral has reason to believe that his team can be the winners on Derby Saturday.

Hard Work

Most of the work has already been done the battle plans were drawn up the moment Chiefs ended their last league game against Golden Arrows, after that match Ertugral knew he would be without his top striker Mabhudi Khenyeza. Nevertheless the show has gone and Ertugral could not be happier with preparations, “I live for derbies” exclaimed Ertugral. “There is no way given the history and what is at stake here that we would go into this match half baked” he sternly intoned and went on to add, “the boys have been eager all week long and now the time has come to make everything that we have worked on pay off for us. We have players missing so do Pirates whenever you miss your key players you have to put in that extra effort, and the boys I believe are ready to do that”.

No surprise

It comes as not surprise that Ertugral wants to turn 34 points into 37 before Chiefs host Bloemfontein Celtic on Wednesday evening, doing that will mean his team holding their nerve in front of the country on Saturday. He does believe that they have the necessary experience to be calm enough to snatch the points, “a derby is like a cup final every match at this point of the season is like a cup game” he divulges. He goes on to comment “we have players with experience the coaching staff has experience of the Soweto derby and we will use our past experiences to ensure that we do not make the same mistakes again. Playing Pirates is not new what is different is what is at stake here and we are fully aware of just what that is, this is familiar territory and we want to get those three points”.