Troubled Sekhukhune United camp want Orlando Pirates scalp

Their defeat to TS Galaxy in the Carling Knockout Cup at the weekend has all but decided the future of coach Brandon Truter with assistant coach Morgan Gould and goalkeeper coach Johan Abselon sacked a few days prior.

Pirates have won the previous two fixtures between the two sides, but defender and captain Daniel Cardoso doesn’t want a repeat.

"I heard him say earlier that Pirates have the better of us but last season they couldn't beat us. They only beat us now in the MTN8 and like the coach said it sticks in our head, obviously, 5-0. It's gonna stick in our head but we gotta get over that. We are all men, we are not little boys. When it comes to the day and we gotta show up," Cardoso said.

After 10 league matches, Babina Noko have only managed three wins, losing five times and drawing the rest.

SABC Sport understands Truter is currently negotiating his settlement to leave the club, but in the meantime, Cardoso remains confident the players can turn things around. 

"We know we are going through a bit of a slump but if we can score in our final third, get a bit better, games will change. I mean there's been so many games where we miss three, four, five opportunities, they score one and we drop our heads. I think once that changes and once we start scoring goals it will be better for us as a team," he added.

The Sekhukhune squad is among the most experienced in the league with veteran players who joined the club following their promotion in 2021 and several more like Cardoso added later.

But this season the former Kaizer Chiefs defender admits it’s not yet gone according to plan, although there are still a lot of games for redemption.

"And then you've gotta rebuild and it's a challenge because you do so well until that point and then you gotta build up again. We started in preseason but I mean we were a well-oiled machine until then but ya we go on.

“We still got a lot of games to come and I do believe that we gonna turn it around. I don't think it's all lost at the moment. There are still so many games in the league and we've got Confed Cup to go to."