Orlando Pirates vice-captain Tapelo Xoki says there’s no such thing as a lucky draw citing the Milford result over Kaizer Chiefs in the Nedbank Cup.
Pirates won the 2023 edition of the tournament after draws against All Stars, Venda FC, Dondol Stars, Kaizer Chiefs before the final triumph over Sekhukhune United.
This season it’s started with Mpumalanga Regional fourth-tier side Crystal Lake before the Round of 16 draw against Hungry Lions from the Motsepe Foundation Championship.
“It has its challenges [facing lower division teams] but nobody can say we’re lucky, we saw the result [between Chiefs and Milford on Sunday], there’s no way anyone can still think that there are minnows in the tournament,” Xoki said when asked by iDiski Times about the perception they are having lucky cup draws.
“We know it’s not an easy task playing against lower division sides, they are highly motivated, we don’t know much about them but we take each game as seriously as it deserves and ensure we prepare well. We make sure we do our due diligence to make sure we get the result.”
Xoki was also amongst the goalscorers, bagging a brace in the 6-0 win over Crystal Lake and he says it’s a morale booster coming into the next fixtures.
They face Polokwane City, Cape Town Spurs and Kaizer Chiefs in eight days before the next FIFA International break.
“It feels great, we’ve been working on it, we’ve not done well in converting [chances], in terms of chances created, we’re amongst the best,” he said.
“We’re happy that over the weekend, I think we scored three from set-plays which is a positive and we’ll take that into the upcoming games.”
