Zothwane plots new approach to end Sekhukhune Pirates misery

Babina Noko are still reeling from three successive defeats against the Soweto giants, two in the MTN8 and another in the Betway Premiership, a run that ultimately contributed to Cedric Kaze’s departure.

Zothwane was part of the technical team as an assistant coach but now faces the challenge of finding a formula to overcome Pirates in Saturday’s Carling Knockout Cup quarterfinal.

"It's a fixture where we have to change the approach in terms of how you want it because it's a cup game. A cup game is very different that a league game and most of the teams when we approach Pirates based on the personnel, the quality the have, playing at the Arena and sometimes we tend to be too much on our players on what's Pirates is going to do than what is it that we can do to win the match and that's very, very important,” Zothwane said.

“Our players must know what it is that they must do to win the match, yes there will be moments in the game where sometimes we'll defend deep. 

“The moments of the game are different and they have to adjust according to what Pirates brings to us but based on the approach that we see on Saturday, the intention is clear, it's to score first when we get the chances because we'll have a different approach because we've changed many approaches when we played Pirates in the league game and in the cup games. 

“So, coming into this game it's our fourth game, we can't be playing the same way."

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The coach insisted that the previous defeats were not a disaster by any stretch of the imagination, hence the tweaks will be minimal.

"We have to change a bit but it won't be much, we still want to keep the consistency of the team because for the past six games the team has done really well and we want to maintain the consistency and the personnel of the team,” the coach added.

“Trying to see how best we can utilise the chances of getting early goals at Arena. I know it's gonna be difficult but it's something that we've prepared for as a team and we are hopeful that whatever that we've prepared for will come out on the day."