Downs out to salvage season

Johannesburg - University of Pretoria skipper Tebogo Monyai believes troubled outfit Mamelodi Sundowns will be desperate to end their run of poor form when the sides meet in the first round of the Telkom Knockout in Pretoria on Tuesday night.

Sundowns have had a poor start to the Premiership campaign and were dumped out of the MTN8 cup competition, but Monyai said they expected the Brazilians to be determined in an effort to get back to winning ways.

"They have been struggling, it's clear," Monyai said on Monday.

"They will be looking to use the cup (Telkom Knockout) as a salvage. They would want to do well to boost their confidence.

"But we have prepared well, we played a couple of friendly matches before going into this game, and we are feeling good."

Monyai admitted his side, competing in their maiden top-flight cup competition, would have to put in a committed effort.

"We are excited to play one of the big clubs in the country," Monyai said.

"We have never had this opportunity before. We have only played them in a friendly game."

Meanwhile, Sundowns captain Teko Modise was looking forward to the fixture and was confident his side would be able to recover from their poor start.

Modise believed the match against Tuks could be the turning point for the Brazilians.

"Tuesday's game is as important as all the previous games we have played," Modise said.

"We have never played AmaTuks before, but it's going to be a tough one because we have seen them play.

"We are under pressure to win. It's been a while since we celebrated a win, so it will be nice to have that feeling back.

"It's only a matter of time and we have another opportunity to do so.

"We would like to see ourselves in the second round of the tournament."

Tuesday's fixture is the final first-round clash and the draw for the quarterfinals will be held immediately after the match at Loftus.

SuperSport United, Free State Stars, Orlando Pirates, Bidvest Wits, Maritzburg United, Amazulu and Bloemfontein Celtic all made it safely through to the second round.