Black Leopards’ striker Rodney Ramagalela says his team is brimming with confidence ahead of their Premiership encounter against Golden Arrows at Princess Magogo Stadium in KwaMashu on Wednesday evening.
Lidoda Duvha enjoyed a motivating 2-0 weekend win over Zimbabwe’s Motor Action to progress to the next round of the Caf Confederation Cup.
Their inspirational performance in the away victory came after they were held to a 1-1 draw at home in the first leg a fortnight ago.
“We are high in confidence right now, and importantly, we went to Zimbabwe with good team spirit and knew we would win,” said Ramagalela on Tuesday.
“The focus is now on getting three points and improving our situation in the league.”
‘All in the past’
Leopards beat Arrows 2-0 earlier in the season — one of their two victories in this campaign.
“We beat them last time but that’s all in the past now,” Ramagalela said.
“I’m sure they will be a different team and especially in their backyard.”
The fixture should have taken place on February 25 in Umlazi but was abandoned 10 minutes into the game because of trouble outside the King Zwelithini Stadium.
A political rally near the venue turned violent leading to the police firing tear gas with fumes reaching the playing venue, hence the postponement.
Tough fixture
Bottom-placed Leopards (11 points) still have to complete a tough fixture list with five games in the next 10 days.
“It’s going to be tough for us. We’ve just been playing in Africa, now it’s the league and on the weekend we play in the Nedbank Cup,” said Ramagalela.
“Straight after that it’s league matches against SuperSport United [next Tuesday] and Platinum Stars [on Saturday].
“But we will push as a team. We have a full squad available right now with no injuries.”
They face an Arrows side which also has relegation concerns being 14th on the log.
A win against Leopards will see the Lamontville outfit move to 11th on the table.
Left fuming
They come off a 5-0 win over amateurs Shining Stars in the Nedbank Cup Last 32 this past weekend.
However, coach Muhsin Ertugral was left fuming after the game as his side failed to be more ruthless against their lower league opponents.
Despite carrying classy talent like Robyn Johannes, Collins Mbesuma, Dillon Sheppard and Bafana Bafana player, Thanduyise Khuboni — Arrows have had a poor season.
They have been erratic in front of goals and sloppy in defence, something Ertugral pointed out after the Stars match.
“Our two major problems are that we concede too easily and don’t score enough,” Ertugral said.
“My opinion is that we should have at least scored another seven or eight goals.” — Sapa