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Cape Town - Platinum Stars head coach Cavin Johnson says he would like to emulate Mamelodi Sundowns in taking CAF competition seriously this season.
Dikwena started their Confederation Cup campaign on Saturday with a 1-0 win over Mozambican side Uniao Do Songo, in their first-leg preliminary round fixture at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium.
After the solid start, Johnson claims they are ready to make a concerted effort to try and win the competition - after the Brazilians became the first Premiership side to win a CAF trophy in over two decades.
South African top-flight teams have historically fielded weaker teams in the competitions over the years. With the general opinion that local cup competitions and league positions, were more lucrative than an attempt to compete in the continental competition.
"We believe that we can go all the way (in the continent)," he told IOL. "We've got the league and the Nedbank Cup and we would also like to do well in both of them as well.
"It's not going to be easy but I believe that we can. The plan is to rest our players as much as we can to ensure that the are ready whenever called upon to play.
"And that means we'll have to monitor what they eat, what time they go to sleep and that they are rejuvenated enough ahead of each fixture we'll get to play in. That's very important for us (to manage).
Robert Ng'ambi scored the only goal of the game against Uniao Do Songo and the Malawi international looks set to be key figure when they travel to the Estádio do Zimpeto on Saturday, for the second-leg.
