Thobejane: Pirates don’t scare us

Kgoloko Thobejane

New Baroka FC head coach Kgoloko Thobejane says his side will not be overawed by Orlando Pirates ahead of the sides’ clash on Thursday at Orlando Stadium.

It will be Thobejane’s first game in charge since taking over from Thoka Matsimela with the pair swapping places as Matsimela is demoted to coach the club’s Multichoice Diski side and with Thobejane promoted to the first team.
Thobejane, the man who uttered the famous words ‘Football can kill you’, is in his second stint as Bakgaga head coach, having been sacked as head coach in 2018 with goalkeeper Oscarine Masuluke‚ defender Olaleng Shaku‚ assistant goalkeeper coach Tshegofatso Machoene and kit manager Delbert Lekoana for allegedly drinking on the team bus.
And Thobejane has outlined what the club’s ambitions are in their bid to improve on their current position of 14th.
“Our plan has not changed much, we lost the three points against Arrows but there are twelve more to play for in the next four matches of this first cycle,” Thobejane told Sowetan.
“Our position on the log standings is not good at the moment and we need those points on offer. Our next match is against Pirates and if you want to be the best, you must beat the best.”
And the Bakgaga boss went on to say that his side will go into the game with the Bucanneers confident and not at all starstruck by the Soweto giants.
“That’s how the game goes. It will be eleven against eleven on the pitch. Some of these teams are just big names but they don’t scare us because we are here to compete against anyone,” he said.
“We just need to prepare ourselves very well. The most important thing is to make sure that we don’t concede against Pirates but at the same time we have to score goals. If we do that in the coming matches, we will be fine.”