Johannesburg - Orlando Pirates winger Daine Klate has heaped praise on Benni McCarthy and believes the striker's presence in the squad is "absolutely vital" to their title aspirations this season.

The former Blackburn and West Ham striker joined Pirates as a free agent at the beginning of the season and has since gone on to help the club claim the MTN8 crown as well as a place in the Telkom Knockout final.

The Soweto giants' PSL campaign has been a bit more rocky though, but they appear to be getting their Premiership title defence back on track following the 1-0 victory over Ajax Cape Town on Wednesday.

"I think Benni has done a fantastic job for us, just his presence alone brings so much to the team because it is so much motivation for us as players," Klate told Football365.co.za.

"All the other teams are really focusing on Benni and forgetting about the rest of our players. It really, really brings a different dimension to our game. We can give him the ball and he can hold it up for us so we can join him.

"So again he is going to be absolutely vital for us in terms of scoring goals and not only that, he creates goals as well like he did against Ajax when he created one for (Thulasizwe) Mbuyane."

The Bucs will once more be put to the sword this weekend when they hosts league leaders SuperSport United, and Klate admits his side will need to produce their very best if they are to break Matsatsantsa's unbeaten run this term.

"We had a tough game against Ajax Cape Town winning 1-0 and we are expecting that it will be an even tougher game against SuperSport United," he added.

"They are aggressive and they play with high intensity, so they will come out at us and not want to give us any space. We have to be prepared to fight for the three points.

"We know we have to double our efforts. They are doing well and we are far behind them as there is a 10-point gap so it will be important for us to come out and play to the best of our capabilities."