Cape Town - Orlando Pirates caretaker coach Eric Tinkler is well aware of the threat a team in the position that Amazulu finds itself can pose.
Read: Pirates hunt for restart boost
“Look, every game is a new chapter,” said Tinkler.
“It’s a new year, new match, anything is possible in the game of football and it’s because of this that we won’t be underestimating our opponents.”
Pirates come into this match looking to break away from 5th placed Ajax and close the gap between themselves and Mamelodi Sundowns and Bidvest Wits who are 2nd and 3rd respectively. The current gap is 8 points with two games in hand on Wits and one on Sundowns.
The last time Pirates and Amazulu played, the match ended 1-all with neither team able to make use of its chances.
In fact, looking at the history books, matches between Pirates and Amazulu have traditionally been tight affairs with little to separate both teams.
The last ten league matches between both sides has produced a startling seven draws; one win for Amazulu and two for Pirates. During this same period only 12 goals have been scored – 7 Pirates and 5 Amazulu.
Another interesting statistic to come out of the history books, is Buccaneers rather poor away record against Amazulu. Looking back at the last 8 away matches to Amazulu, Pirates have only been able to muster one victory and that was back in 2012 (4 April to be exact), with Tokelo Rantie scoring the only goal of the match.
In the same eight away matches, Pirates have scored only four goals against Amazulu’s five; with Usuthu winning twice – 23 December 2007 and 28 October 2009.