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Pretoria - Titans coach, Rob Walter, is fully aware of the importance of Friday’s One-Day Cup clash against the Dolphins at Willowmoore Park.
"It’s pretty much down to a must-win game every time we play," Walter admitted.
"We’ve got ourselves into this position, but we’ve got to take it one game at a time and focus on getting our skills right and our thinking right.”
The Titans currently sit in fourth position with 11 points - seven behind the third-placed Warriors - and so they can ill-afford to add a fourth defeat to their record.
Walter points out that the Titans looked set for victory when rain washed out the two sides’ previous encounter in Durban two weeks ago, while the hosts will also take confidence from Wednesday night’s action, in which the Knights proved the Dolphins’ fallibility.
Lance Klusener’s side appeared to have the game in the bag when they reduced the Knights to 141 for eight, chasing 232, only for Dillon du Preez and Quinton Friend to knock off the target with ease.
"I think it was an outstanding partnership, and sometimes you do walk into an opposition who get it right, which is acceptable, but at the same time we let ourselves down a bit in terms of the execution of our plans and skills," said Klusener.
"For me it’s a mixture of both and we’ll sit down and talk about it and hopefully sort it out.
"We’re seriously disappointed that it ended up that way, but if you are going to get a wake-up call somewhere in the competition then it’s better sooner than later I suppose."
The one concern for Friday’s game is the Willowmoore Park pitch - the last game there saw Jacques Rudolph suffer a broken hand which will keep him out for at least another four weeks.
"I haven’t had a look at it, but I would just assume that after the way things went in the last game they would have spent a lot of time trying to ensure that we don’t get the same type of surface again," said Walter.
In 20 franchise limited overs matches (excluding T20) against each other, both the Titans and the Dolphins each have eight wins apiece, with four matches ending with no result.
"It’s pretty much down to a must-win game every time we play," Walter admitted.
"We’ve got ourselves into this position, but we’ve got to take it one game at a time and focus on getting our skills right and our thinking right.”
The Titans currently sit in fourth position with 11 points - seven behind the third-placed Warriors - and so they can ill-afford to add a fourth defeat to their record.
Walter points out that the Titans looked set for victory when rain washed out the two sides’ previous encounter in Durban two weeks ago, while the hosts will also take confidence from Wednesday night’s action, in which the Knights proved the Dolphins’ fallibility.
Lance Klusener’s side appeared to have the game in the bag when they reduced the Knights to 141 for eight, chasing 232, only for Dillon du Preez and Quinton Friend to knock off the target with ease.
"I think it was an outstanding partnership, and sometimes you do walk into an opposition who get it right, which is acceptable, but at the same time we let ourselves down a bit in terms of the execution of our plans and skills," said Klusener.
"For me it’s a mixture of both and we’ll sit down and talk about it and hopefully sort it out.
"We’re seriously disappointed that it ended up that way, but if you are going to get a wake-up call somewhere in the competition then it’s better sooner than later I suppose."
The one concern for Friday’s game is the Willowmoore Park pitch - the last game there saw Jacques Rudolph suffer a broken hand which will keep him out for at least another four weeks.
"I haven’t had a look at it, but I would just assume that after the way things went in the last game they would have spent a lot of time trying to ensure that we don’t get the same type of surface again," said Walter.
In 20 franchise limited overs matches (excluding T20) against each other, both the Titans and the Dolphins each have eight wins apiece, with four matches ending with no result.
